Samoa sevens coach

As far as CVs go in the world of rugby sevens, Sir Gordon Tietjens' sits top of the pile. There is no head coach out there with more experience of the game.

Samoan sevens will make his work much more enjoyable.

However, he admits that building championship teams won’t happen overnight.

“I can assure you it’s going to take a gradual amount of time to get the players you need, talent identification and then get out there and perform,” he said.

“And it’s not a quick fix but I can assure you as well, that you’ll see massive improvements,” he added.

Tietjens was named coach in Apia last Friday.

This follows after the 60-year-old stepped down from his role as the All Blacks Sevens coach last month after a 22-year stint.

During that time, New Zealand won four Commonwealth Games gold medals, 12 World Rugby Sevens Series titles and two Sevens World Championship titles.

Planet Rugby’s David Skipper caught up with former Samoa, Bath, Gloucester, Coca-Cola Red Sparks centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, who is now working as a lawyer in Samoa, to talk on his views on Tietjens’ appointment and the state of the game in Samoa.

Tietjens met with the Samoa Rugby Union board last night, including Chairman and Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, to finalise details over his contract.

RNZ has been told Tietjens will take charge of the team in January, with former Manu Samoa and Samoa sevens coach Stephen Betham as his assistant.

RNZ reports the Manu finished ninth during last season's World Series and were beaten by Spain in the final of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Monaco.

CEO Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai said while Samoa were just seconds away from reaching Rio the simple fact is they didn't qualify.

RNZ reports Damian McGrath was appointed last year but his team failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

The SRU said the board reached the decision to readvertise the coach's job and those of the management team after reviewing the team's performance in the 2015/2016 season.

The SRU's chief executive Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai said the management team was welcome to reapply.

Last year, McGrath had been selected by an independent panel and endorsed by the Samoa Rugby Board to replace Fuimaono Titimaea Tafua, beating out 28 other applicants from Samoa and abroad.