Samoa national rugby league team

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Script error: No such module "Distinguish". Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template other The Samoa national rugby league team represents Samoa in rugby league football and has participated in international competition since 1986. Known as Western Samoa before 1997, the team is administered by Rugby League Samoa and are nicknamed Toa Samoa (English: Samoan Warriors).

History

Western Samoa made their debut in the 1986 Pacific Cup. Joe Raymond coached this side to a final where they went down to a strong NZ Maori side. Joe Raymond went on to coach them again in 1988 and would return again to coach them 10 years later in 1998 in a one-off game against a Samoan team of Samoan resident players at Carlaw park.

William John "Swanny" Stowers and his wife Lyndsay Stowers operated Samoa Rugby League out of their North Shore home in Auckland and from the Richmond Rugby League Club house where Lyndsay ran the canteen. This resilient couple were known to have put a mortgage on their home to assist with funding the thirty (30) men representing Samoa in the Pacific Cup held in Tonga, 1990.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". This commitment lead to a historical win over the Maori team for the first time and a win in the 1990 Pacific Cup. Coached by the Richmond Bulldogs Head Coach, Steve Kaiser.

Samoa then won the 1992 Pacific Cup over Tonga in an action filled thriller that went into two (2) overtimes and sent the NZ Rugby League and Polynesian rugby league public into a frenzy. The 1992 Tournament showcased all of NZ Rugby league talent and Australian Rugby league scouts were already booked to witness the 1994 Pacific Cup held in Fiji.

In 1993 Western Samoa were invited to the International Coca-Cola Sevens in Sydney. With Auckland based Samoan players such as Mark Elia, Tony Tuimavave, Tony Tatupu, Faausu Afoa and Des Maea followed by a group of up and coming players such as Matthew TuiSamoa, Lionel Perera, Aleki Maea, Paki Tuimavave, Joe Vagana, Sefo Fuimaono and Peter Lima, the team beat the Canberra Raiders and the Great Britain International team. Coached by the Richmond Bulldogs' Head Coach Steve Kaiser, this team gave Samoa the status to create the strong foundation Western Samoa Rugby League needed to move forward. Below this strong foundation however was the strength and commitment of two people: Swanny and Lyndsay Stowers. These two held together the concept of Samoa Rugby League and without their dream, Samoa RL will not be where it is today.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Steve Kaiser in his sixth year as the Samoan Coach had an array of NZ based quality players for the 1994 Pacific Cup with the likes of Se'e Solomona, Tony Tatupu, the Tuimavave brothers Paki and Tony plus the loyal players of Mike Setefano, Matthew TuiSamoa, Alex Tupou and Mark Faumuina. Henry Suluvale and Rudy David led the contingent of first class players from Canterbury however this arsenal were well contained by the Tongan stars Jim Dymock, John Hopoate, Solomon Haumono and Albert Fulivai.

The 1995 Samoan team had the benefit of ex-All Blacks John Schuster and Va'aiga Tuigamala in their backline. When rugby union went openly professional players such as Apollo Perelini and Fereti Tuilagi left rugby league to return to the 15-man game.

Samoa lost the Pacific Cup in 1996.

The 1998 Pacific Cup team saw a new and old talent. Joe Raymond, one of the first Samoan Rugby League Rep coaches returned after coaching Tonga and the NZ Maori, the late Eddie Poching managed the team and the introduction of Francis Meli to Samoan Rugby League and Junior Papalii a loyal American Samoan Representative. Pati Tuimavave from the 1992 squad and Matthew TuiSamoa, the only survivor from 1990 Pacific Cup champion team returned. Samoa battled Tonga for the 1998 Pacific Cup again at Carlaw park and again Samoa regained the Pacific Champions Title.

The Pacific Cup was taken to Australia's Gold Coast in 2000 where Auckland coach John Ackland took over the reins. Ackland added another dimension to Samoa Rugby League in selecting rising stars Itikeri Samani a Canberra and Goulburn Stockmen Junior who previously represented American Samoa and Wayne McDade from the New Zealand Warriors while bringing back Matthew tuiSamoa into the Pacific Cup arena.

Samoa took on Ireland, Scotland, and the Aotearoa Māori in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup pool stages. They would lose to 'the Irish' in their opening game, but they'd beat NZ Maori, and Scotland in their next two games, sealing a place in the knock-out stages. They would take on Australia in the quarter-final. Unfortunately, they ended their tournament with a thrashing 66–10 defeat (their biggest defeat up to date), sealing an end to a respectable World Cup Campaign.

Samoa played in the Pacific Pool of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers. They beat the Cook Islands and Fiji, but lost to Tonga. On a points difference, Samoa came in third and had to play USA in the Repecharge Semi-final. Samoa won this match 42–10 and then played Lebanon on 14 November 2007 in the Repecharge Final to see who would take the 10th and final World Cup place. Samoa came out eventual winners of the 10th and final 2008 Rugby League World Cup place beating Lebanon 38–16 at the Chris Moyles Stadium, Featherstone.[1]

For the 2008 Rugby League World Cup tournament Samoa's main jersey sponsor was the Samoa International Finance Authority.

Samoa took on Tonga and Ireland in the Tournament's pool stages. They beat their Pacific rivals 20–12, but they then lost to the Irish by 34–16. This big losing margin, sent the Samoans into battle against the French in the Tournament's 9th place play-off. Samoa easily won, winning 42–10 and capping off an undesirable World Cup Tournament.

In April 2013, Samoa took on Tonga in the '2013 Pacific Rugby League Test' at Penrith Stadium. The International was created as a World Cup warm-up match. Tonga targeted Samoa's weak defence, and it paid off, thrashing the Toa Samoans by 36–4.

Australian Matt Parish was appointed head coach ahead of the 2013 World Cup.[2] In the group stage, Samoa lost to Template:Rlnt 42–24, and defeated Template:Rlnt 38–4 and Template:Rlnt 22–6. They lost the quarter-final to Template:Rlnt 22–4.

In May 2014, Samoa defeated Template:Rlnt 32–16 in a one-off Test match to qualify for the 2014 Four Nations. In the Four Nations, Samoa was the fourth nation and the underdogs against rugby league's three big heavyweight nations England, New Zealand and Australia. But they proved that they were anything but underdogs, losing to England by six points in a sea-sawing battle, and they were within four minutes of creating rugby league history by beating New Zealand. By the final round, Samoa still had a chance to qualify for the final, making this Four Nations the toughest ever. This Samoan performance added credential to the rugby league game showing that the game is not all about the big three. An annual series against Template:Rlnt was proposed to run likewise to Australia's State of Origin series.[3]

In May 2015, Samoa took on Tonga. The game was an absolute thriller with the lead alternating between the teams and the biggest margin throughout the match was only 6 points. Samoa won 18–16. The following year, in May 2016, Samoa defeated Tonga 18–12.

Samoa were winless at the 2017 World Cup, losing 38–8 to Template:Rlnt and 32–18 Template:Rlnt, and drawing 14–14 with Template:Rlnt. However, due to the tournament structure, they advanced to the knock-out stage thanks to the draw.[4][5] In the quarter-final, Samoa lost 46–0 to defending champions Template:Rlnt.[6] Former rugby league players Reni Maitua and Willie Mason were heavily critical of the team after the tournament, claiming the players were staying up late at night and had no respect for coach Matt Parish.[7]

In February 2021, it was reported that 34 current and former Samoan players had co-signed a letter to Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi requesting for Parish to be removed as coach, citing a lack of professionalism and success. Parish responded by claiming the players were coerced to sign the letter.[8] In May 2021, Andrew Johns, Matthew Johns and Sonny Bill Williams voiced interest to jointly coach Samoa at the 2021 World Cup.[9][10] Rugby League Samoa affirmed Parish would remain as head coach for the tournament in a statement.[11] NRL.com noted that Samoa has approximately 85 NRL players to choose from in 2021, more than is available for the successful Template:Rlntn (60) and Template:Rlntan (40) teams,[12] however, according to reports, there are some players not willing to represent Samoa under the current coaching set-up.[13][14]

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Samoa performing the Siva Tau against Template:Rlnt at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup
File:Siva tau.jpg
Samoa performing the Siva Tau against Template:Rlnt at the 2021 Rugby League World Cup

In October 2022, Samoa opened the 2021 Men's Rugby League World Cup against host nation England. Despite high expectations for Samoa, due to high profile players such as Penrith Panthers premiership winning trio Jarome Luai, Brian To'o, and Stephen Crichton pledging allegiance to Samoa over Australia, Samoa went on to lose the match in embarrassing fashion, 60-6.

Samoa rebounded from the loss in the competition opener with big wins over Greece and France, 72-4 and 62-4 respectively.

Samoa qualified for the finals, coming second place in their pool behind England, and went on to face rivals Mate Ma'a Tonga in the quarter-finals. Samoa would go on to win the match despite a late resurgence from Tonga to win 20-18, qualifying for their first ever world cup semi final.

Samoa would face England in the semi-final, who they lost their first match against. In a back and forth encounter, the scores were tied at 20-20 with less than 8 minutes to go in the match but Stephen Crichton would intercept a pass from Victor Radley running more than 60 metres to score a try to put Samoa ahead. Several minutes later, with just 3 minutes left in the match, England halfback George Williams broke Samoas defence and passed to Herbie Farnworth who would complete a 90 metre long try, taking the score to 26-24. Tommy Makinson would then kick the conversion to tie the match. With the scores tied at 26-26, the match went to Golden Point, with England receiving the ball first. Jack Welsby made an error giving Samoa the ball, which would lead to an Anthony Milford field goal attempt but missed. England received the ball again but a Sam Tomkins error would give the ball back to Samoa once again and Stephen Chrichton kicked the field goal to win the match, 27-26. Sending Samoa to their first ever World Cup final against Australia, and just the fifth team to qualify for the final. (Great Britain, England, France, New Zealand)

Identity

Kit

Samoa's kit consists of a blue jersey with usually a white V on the chest, paired with blue shorts and socks.

Kit suppliers

Since 2023, Samoa's kits are currently supplied by Dynasty Sport. Former suppliers were Classic Sportswear (2022), FI-TA (2013-2021), SAS (2006–2013), SportM (1995–2000), Zeus (1992–1995) and Adidas (1990–1992).

Sponsors

The current sponsors are Pacifcast.

Former sponsors were DB Bitter (1992–1996), Yazaki (Rugby League World Cup 2000), SIFA.WS (2008–2015), Investsamoa.ws, and Vailima.

Players

Current squad

The Samoa national team for the 2024 tour of England was announced on 9 October 2024.[15] Jarome Luai was appointed captain.
Statistics in the table include the Second Test against England.

Player Date of birth (age) Position(s) Caps Club
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Notes:

Notable players and coaches

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Records

  • Bold- denotes that the player is still active.

Most capped players

# Name Career Caps
1 Tim Lafai 2013-2022 18
2 Junior Paulo 2016- 17
3 Leeson Ah Mau 2013-2017 16
4 Ben Roberts 2008-2017 15
Pita Godinet 2013-2018 15
Joey Leilua 2013-2019 15
7 Anthony Milford 2013-2022 13
8 Joseph Paulo 2007-2010, 2017-2018 12
9 George Carmont 2006–2010 11
Martin Taupau 2013, 2019-2022 11
Josh Papali'i 2017, 2022 11
Jarome Luai 2017- 11

Top try scorers

# Name Career Tries
1 Tim Lafai 2013-2022 9
2 George Carmont 2006–2010 7
Antonio Winterstein 2013–2016 7
4 Daniel Vidot 2013-2015 6
Taylan May 2022 6

Top points scorers

# Name Career Points Tries Goals Field Goals
1 Stephen Crichton 2022- 77 4 30 1
2 Tim Lafai 2013-2022 50 9 7 0
3 Anthony Milford 2013-2022 46 4 15 0
4 Ben Roberts 2008-2017 36 5 8 0
5 Joseph Paulo 2007-2010, 2017-2018 34 1 15 0

Competitive Record

Template:Main article

Overall

Opponent Played Won Drawn Lost % Won Year/s
File:Flag of American Samoa.svg American Samoa 1 1 0 0 100% 1994
File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia 5 0 0 5 0% 2000–2023
File:Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg Australian Aborigines 3 3 0 0 100% 1990–1994
File:Flag of the Cook Islands.svg Cook Islands 7 5 0 2 71% 1986–2009
File:Flag of England.svg England 5 1 0 4 20% 2006–2022
Template:Flagicon England Knights 1 0 0 1 0% 2013
File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji 11 4 0 7 36% 1992–2019
File:Flag of France.svg France 5 4 0 1 80% 1995–2022
File:Flag of Greece.svg Greece 1 1 0 0 100% 2022
File:Four Provinces Flag.svg Ireland 2 0 0 2 0% 2000–2008
File:Flag of Lebanon.svg Lebanon 1 1 0 0 100% 2007
File:Flags of New Caledonia.svg New Caledonia 1 1 0 0 100% 2004
File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand 4 0 0 4 0% 2010–2017
  1. REDIRECT Template:Country data Māori || 6 || 2 || 0 || 4 || 33% || 1986–2004
File:Flag of Niue.svg Niue 3 3 0 0 100% 1990–2004
File:Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Papua New Guinea 2 2 0 0 100% 2013–2019
Template:Flagicon Rotorua 1 1 0 0 100% 1994
File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland 2 1 1 0 50% 2000-2017
File:Flag of Tokelau.svg Tokelau 4 3 0 1 75% 1986–2006
File:Flag of Tonga.svg Tonga 22 10 1 11 50% 1986–2022
File:Flag of the United States.svg United States 1 1 0 0 100% 2007
File:Flag of Wales (1959–present).svg Wales 1 1 0 0 100% 1995
Total 88 45 2 42 51% 1986–

World Cup

World Cup record
Year Round Position GP W L D
Template:Flagicon 1954 did not enter
Template:Flagicon 1957
Template:Flagicon 1960
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 1968
Template:Flagicon 1970
Template:Flagicon 1972
Template:FlagiconTemplate:FlagiconTemplate:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 1975
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 1977
1985-88
1989-92
Template:Flagicon 1995 Group stage 5/10 2 1 1 0
Template:FlagiconTemplate:FlagiconTemplate:FlagiconTemplate:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 2000 Quarter-finals 8/16 4 2 2 0
Template:Flagicon 2008 Group stage 9/10 2 1 1 0
Template:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 2013 Quarter-finals 5/14 4 2 2 0
Template:FlagiconTemplate:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 2017 Quarter-finals 8/14 4 0 3 1
Template:Flagicon2021 Runners Up 2/16 6 4 2 0
Template:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon2026 Qualified
Total 0 Titles 6/16 22 10 11 1

Four Nations

Four Nations record
Year Round Position GP W L D
Template:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 2009 Not Invited
Template:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 2010 Failed to Qualify
Template:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 2011 Not Invited
Template:FlagiconTemplate:Flagicon 2014 Fourth Place 4/4 3 0 3 0
Template:Flagicon 2016 Not Invited
Total 0 Titles 1/5 3 0 3 0

Pacific Cup

Pacific Cup record
Year Round Position GP W L D
Template:Flagicon 1986 Second Place 2/6 5 3 2 0
Template:Flagicon 1988 Second Place 2/6 4 3 1 0
Template:Flagicon 1990 Champions 1/8 5 5 0 0
Template:Flagicon 1992 Champions 1/10 6 6 0 0
Template:Flagicon 1994 Third Place 3/10 6 5 1 0
Template:Flagicon 1997 Not Invited
Template:Flagicon 2004 Group stage 5/6 2 1 1 0
Template:Flagicon 2006 Group stage 6/6 3 0 3 0
Template:Flagicon 2009 Quarter-finals 5/5 1 0 1 0
Total 2 Titles 8/12 32 23 9 0

Attendance records

Highest all-time attendances

Attendance Opposing team Venue Tournament
67,502 File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Old Trafford, Manchester 2021 Rugby League World Cup Final
47,813 File:Flag of England.svg England Lang Park, Brisbane 2014 Rugby League Four Nations
43,119 File:Flag of England.svg England St James' Park, Newcastle 2021 Rugby League World Cup
40,489 File:Flag of England.svg England Emirates Stadium, London 2021 Rugby League World Cup Semi-Final
25,257 File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji Eden Park, Auckland 2019 Oceania Cup Group B

Highest attendances per opponent

Attendance Opposing team Venue Tournament
67,502 File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia Old Trafford, Manchester 2021 Rugby League World Cup Final
47,813 File:Flag of England.svg England Lang Park, Brisbane 2014 Rugby League Four Nations
25,257 File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji Eden Park, Auckland 2019 Oceania Cup Group B
23,264 File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand Eden Park, Auckland 2023 Pacific Championships
18,156 File:Flag of Tonga.svg Tonga Waikato Stadium, Hamilton 2017 Rugby League World Cup
15,385 File:Flag of Wales (1959–present).svg Wales Vetch Field, Swansea 1995 Rugby League World Cup
11,576 File:Flag of France.svg France Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan 2013 Rugby League World Cup
10,515 File:Flag of the Cook Islands.svg Cook Islands Campbelltown Stadium, Sydney 2022 Samoa vs Cook Islands
8,602 File:Four Provinces Flag.svg Ireland Parramatta Stadium, Sydney 2008 Rugby League World Cup
8,408 File:Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Papua New Guinea Leichhardt Oval, Sydney 2019 Oceania Cup Group B
4,309 File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland Barlow Park, Cairns 2017 Rugby League World Cup
4,115 File:Flag of Greece.svg Greece Doncaster Community Stadium, Doncaster 2021 Rugby League World Cup
4,107
  1. REDIRECT Template:Country data Māori
 Derwent Park, Workington 2000 Rugby League World Cup
1,323 File:Flag of Lebanon.svg Lebanon Post Office Road, Featherstone 2008 Rugby League World Cup – Pacific Qualifying Final
753 File:Flag of the United States.svg United States Halton Stadium, Widnes 2008 Rugby League World Cup – Pacific Qualifying

IRL Rankings

Template:RLIF World Rankings

See also

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References

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External links

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