Samoan national rugby union team
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| Nickname (s) | Manu Samoa | ||
| Association | Samoa Rugby Football Union | ||
| Trainer |
 Steve Jackson
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| captain | Jack Lam | ||
| WR abbreviation | SAM | ||
| WR rank | 15. (70.72 points) (as of February 4, 2020) |
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Most international matches Brian Lima (65) |
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Most points scored Tusi Pisi (238) |
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Most attempts scored Brian Lima (29) |
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First international West Samoa 0-6 Fiji (August 18, 1924) .svg){kind=small} |
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Biggest win Papua New Guinea 7: 115 Samoa (July 11, 2009)  |
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Biggest defeat New Zealand 101: 14 Samoa (September 3, 2008) |
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World Cup participations: 5 Best result: quarter-finals 1991, 1995 |
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The Samoan national rugby union team , also known as Manu Samoa , represents Samoa on an international level in the sport of rugby union . It is the World Association International Rugby Board (IRB) in the second strength class (second tier) divided. In 1987 the teams were invited by the IRB for the first World Cup. Samoa was not invited, but was able to qualify for all other world championships and achieved their best results in 1991 and 1995 when they made it to the quarter-finals. The team takes part in the Pacific Nations Cup every year (until 2005 the Pacific Tri-Nations ). The responsible association is the Samoa Rugby Football Union . As part of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance , the association sporadically organizes games for the Pacific Islanders , a team selected from three Pacific countries.
general situation
Samoa is one of the few countries where rugby union is a national sport. However, the country is losing numerous talents, as these mostly play in the professional leagues of Australia , Europe or New Zealand and are often naturalized by the respective target country. Since the 1970s, a particularly large number of Samoans have been drawn to New Zealand. The best-known New Zealand national players of Samoan origin are Jerry Collins , Michael Jones (national coach until 2008), Chris Masoe , Malili Muliaina , Rodney So'oialo , Isaia Toeava , Va'aiga Tuigamala and Tana Umaga . Samoans who keep their original nationality cannot always be used freely, as English clubs, in particular, seldom allow games to be played by the national team.
history
The Marist School Brothers introduced the sport to Western Samoa in 1920 , and the Western Samoa Rugby Football Union was founded four years later . On August 18, 1924, the first international match took place in the capital Apia against Fiji as part of a three-country tournament. The opening time was at 7 a.m. so that the Samoans had enough time to get to work afterwards. From 1928 to 1955 no international matches were organized at all. In 1960, the New Zealand Māori was the first team to visit that did not come from Fiji or Tonga .
With the introduction of the Pacific Tri-Nations in 1982, there were more playing options, and the Samoans won the first event. The first game against a European team took place in 1986 at home against Wales . Samoa was not invited to the first rugby World Cup in 1987 . In 1988 the association organized a tour to Europe for the first time. In a qualifying tournament in Tokyo in April 1990 , the Samoans secured participation in the 1991 Rugby World Cup . They surprised with victories in the preliminary round against Wales and Argentina and made it to the quarter-finals, where they failed to Scotland .
The Samoans were also able to convince at the 1995 Rugby World Cup . With victories against Italy and Argentina, they advanced again to the quarter-finals, where they failed at the eventual world champions South Africa . After Rugby Union was opened to professional players in the same year, the association entered into a cooperation with the New Zealand investment bank Fay Richwhite and founded Manu Samoa Rugby Limited , which has since been responsible for the management of the national team.
At the Rugby World Cup in 1999 , Samoa beat Japan and hosts Wales, but lost again to Scotland in the second round. Four years later, at the Rugby World Cup in 2003 , Samoa was divided into a stronger preliminary group due to poorer performance in qualifying. The two victories against Georgia and Uruguay were not enough for the quarter-finals. In the game against the eventual world champions England , the Samoans had led for a long time, but finally lost with 22:35. At the 2007 Rugby World Cup , the Samoans again missed qualifying for the quarter-finals. Even at the 2011 World Cup , only third place could be achieved in the difficult preliminary group D , with the games against Wales and South Africa only narrowly lost. In 2015 you could only book a World Cup preliminary round victory when you got the upper hand against the USA with 25:16.
The Siva Tau
Before each game, the Samoan players dance the Siva Tau , a war dance that is similar to the haka of the New Zealand All Blacks . The national team in Australian football also uses this dance. Before 1991 the traditional Ma'ulu'ulu Moa was danced; the Siva Tau is considered to be more aggressive and therefore better suited to attuning the players.
| Samoan | German |
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Le Manu Samoae ia malu ona fai o le faiva |
Manu Samoa, may you be successful |
successes
International matches
As of September 7, 2019
| country | Games | Won | Lost | draw |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina
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4th | 3 | 1 | 0 |
 Australia
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6th | 1 | 5 | 0 |
 Belgium
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Cook Islands
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3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
 Germany
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3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
 England
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8th | 0 | 8th | 0 |
 Fiji
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56 | 20th | 33 | 3 |
 France
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4th | 0 | 4th | 0 |
 Georgia
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5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
 Ireland
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6th | 1 | 5 | 0 |
 Italy
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7th | 5 | 2 | 0 |
 Japan
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15th | 11 | 4th | 0 |
 Canada
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6th | 6th | 0 | 0 |
 Namibia
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2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
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New Caledonia
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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New Zealand
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7th | 0 | 7th | 0 |
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New Zealand Māori
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9 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
 Romania
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2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
 Scotland
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11 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
 Spain
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 South Africa
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9 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
 South Korea
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Tahiti
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Tonga
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65 | 34 | 27 | 4th |
 Uruguay
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 United States
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7th | 5 | 2 | 0 |
.svg){kind=small} Wales
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10 | 4th | 6th | 0 |
| Total | 239 | 103 | 127 | 9 |
World championships
- World Cup 1987 : Not invited
- 1991 World Cup : quarter-finals (2 preliminary round wins)
- World Cup 1995 : quarter-finals (2 preliminary round wins)
- World Cup 1999 : intermediate round (2 preliminary round wins)
- World Cup 2003 : preliminary round (2 wins)
- World Cup 2007 : preliminary round (1 win)
- World Cup 2011 : preliminary round (2 wins)
- World Cup 2015 : preliminary round (1 win)
- World Cup 2019 : preliminary round (1 win)
Pacific Tri-Nations
Winner: 1982, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005
player
Current squad
The following players make up the squad during the 2019 World Cup :
Well-known former players
Individual evidence
- ^ World Rugby Rankings. world.rugby, February 4, 2020, accessed November 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Two uncapped players in Samoa squad for Japan. Rugby World Cup, September 1, 2019, accessed September 5, 2019 .
Web links
- Samoa Rugby Football Union ( Memento from September 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Rugby News ( Memento of May 15, 2008 on the Internet Archive )
- International match statistics for Samoa on rugbydata.com