Samoa national rugby sevens team

Samoa

Union	Samoa Rugby Football Union
Nickname(s)	Manu
Coach(es)	Damian McGrath
Captain(s)	Faalemiga Selesele
Top scorer	Uale Mai 1174
Most tries	Mikaele Pesamino 151
Team kit
World Cup Sevens
Appearances	6 (First in 1993)
Best result	3rd place, 1997, 2009 champions 2010

The Samoa national rugby sevens team, referred to as the Samoa Sevens or Manu Samoa 7s, represents Samoa internationally in rugby sevens. The team competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series, and won the 2009–10 World Series following a 15-12 victory against England in the semi-finals at the 2010 Edinburgh Sevens.^[1] Samoa Sevens defeated Australia in the final and were crowned winners of the 2010 Edinburgh Sevens. The historic victory followed three consecutive tournament wins in the world series, the Hong Kong Sevens,^[2] the USA Sevens and the Adelaide Sevens.^[3]

Representing the tiny Polynesian country of Samoa with a population of about 180,000 the Samoa Sevens team competes against some of the wealthiest countries in the world.^[4]

Samoa has played at all Rugby World Cup Sevens finals tournaments since the championship began in 1993, and won the third-place final in 1997 and 2007. The team has won four Oceania Sevens titles since the first competition in 2008. Samoa also won all four gold medals at the Pacific Games Sevens and Pacific Mini Games Sevens between 2007 and 2013, defeating Fiji in the final on each occasion.

Rugby union in Samoa is governed by the Samoa Rugby Football Union (SRU) which oversees the Samoa Sevens team and the 15-player Manu Samoa national team.

History

The first Samoan sevens team was selected in November 1978 to play at the invitation Hong Kong Sevens under the leadership of former SRU representative captain, Tuatagaloa Keli Tuatagaloa. The team included Rev-Dr Faitala Talapusi as captain, Lemalu Roy Slade (Brisbane) as vice-captain, Rev. Paul Gray (Melbourne), Peter Schmidt, Feausiga Sililoto, Andy Leavasa (USA), Salafuti Patu and others.

Uganda v Samoa (20 March 2006)

In 2007, the team won both the Wellington Sevens and Hong Kong Sevens. Another past victory was the Hong Kong Sevens in 1993. In 2009, the team made the finals in the Dubai Sevens but lost to the New Zealand team.

While long a solidly competitive side, the Samoa Sevens emerged as true world contenders in the 2006-07 Sevens World Series, finishing third overall while winning two events. This new team has reached the final four times in a row, playing against series favourite Fiji.

Coaches

The current coach is Damian McGrath. Past coaches have included Lilomaiava Taufusi Salesa who trained the 1993 Hong Kong Sevens winning team. Other notable coaches who have led Samoa to sevens prominence were head coach Fuimaono Titimaea "Dicky" Tafua and his assistant Galumalemana Rudolph Moors. In the 2005 - 2006 IRB Sevens Circuit they managed to qualify to two finals (London and Paris) but failed to win any. The Samoa Sevens lost to South Africa in London and island rivals Fiji at Paris.

Fuimaono resigned from coaching in 2007 to his new post as Secretary to Samoa's Head of State, Tupua Tamasese Tufuga Efi. He would later return to coaching in 2009 as head coach of the 15s national team. Galumalemana took over as coach and after a disappointing team performance in the 2008–09 series was temporarily replaced by Lilomaiava Taufusi Salesa for the final two legs of the series. Stephen Betham was named as Galumalemana successor in 2009.

Current squad

Samoa sevens team, 2014

Squad to 2015 Pacific Games:^[5]

• Falemiga Selesele
• Tila Mealoi
• Telea Seumanutafa
• Phoenix Hunapo-Nofoa
• Alefosio Tapili
• Alex Samoa
• Tomasi Alosio
• Belgium Tuatagaloa
• Alamanda Motuga
• Ed Fidow
• Savelio Ropati
• Samoa Toloa

Previous Squads

2014 Commonwealth Games Squad[6]
Afa Aiono Alex Samoa Levi Asifaamatala Faalemiga Selesele Lio Lolo Saena Vili Alatasi Tupou Lolo Lui Reupena Levasa Tulolo Tulolo Etiuefa Fiavaai Samoa Toloa Sonny Fereti George Antaky

Win summaries

Event	Venue	Cup			Plate	Bowl	Shield
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Winner	Winner
2012 Dubai Sevens	The Sevens Stadium	Samoa	26 - 15	New Zealand	Wales	Argentina	England
2012 USA Sevens	Sam Boyd Stadium	Samoa	26 - 19	New Zealand	Kenya	Canada	France
2010 Edinburgh Sevens	Murrayfield Stadium	Samoa	41 - 14	Australia	Scotland	Wales	Russia
2010 Hong Kong Sevens	Hong Kong Stadium	Samoa	24 - 21	New Zealand	Australia	Canada	Hong Kong
2010 Adelaide Sevens	Adelaide Oval	Samoa	38 - 10	United States	New Zealand	England	Japan
2010 USA Sevens	Sam Boyd Stadium	Samoa	33 - 12	New Zealand	South Africa	United States	Scotland
2008 London Sevens	Westpac Stadium	Samoa	19 - 14	Fiji	New Zealand	Australia	Spain
2007 Hong Kong Sevens	Hong Kong Stadium	Samoa	27 - 22	Fiji	Wales	Russia
2007 Wellington Sevens	Westpac Stadium	Samoa	14 - 7	Fiji	England	Tonga	Portugal
1993 Hong Kong Sevens	Hong Kong Stadium	Western Samoa	14 - 12	Fiji	Tonga	Romania

In July 1997, the Government of Samoa amended its constitution to change the country's name from Western Samoa to Samoa.^[7]

2009-10 IRB Sevens World Series

Itinerary

The series' tournaments are identical to those in 2008–09 and span the globe, visiting five of the six populated continents.

The itinerary for the 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series;

2009–10 Itinerary[8]
Leg	Venue	Date	Winner
Dubai	The Sevens	4–5 December 2009	New Zealand
South Africa	Outeniqua Park, George	11–12 December 2009	New Zealand
New Zealand	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	5–6 February 2010	Fiji
United States	Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas	13–14 February 2010	Samoa
Australia	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	19–21 March 2010	Samoa
Hong Kong	Hong Kong Stadium	26–28 March 2010	Samoa
London	Twickenham	22–23 May 2010	Australia
Edinburgh	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	29–30 May 2010	Samoa

Overall Standings

2009–10 Standings[9]
Pos.	Country	Dubai	South Africa (George)	New Zealand (Wellington)	USA (Las Vegas)	Australia (Adelaide)	Hong Kong	England (London)	Scotland (Edinburgh)	Overall
1	Samoa	20	6	20	24	24	30	16	24	164
2	New Zealand	24	24	16	20	12	25	12	16	149
3	Australia	12	6	12	16	16	16	24	20	122
4	Fiji	16	20	24	8	6	20	8	6	108
5	England	16	12	16	6	4	20	6	16	96
6	South Africa	8	8	8	12	8	10	20	6	80
7	Argentina	6	16	0	0	16	0	16	8	62
8	Kenya	6	16	6	16	0	8	0	0	52
9	Wales	4	4	4	6	6	0	6	4	34
10	United States	0	0	0	4	20	8	0	0	32
11	Canada	DNP	DNP	6	0	DNP	5	4	0	15
12	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	12

Former players

Two of the highest points and try scorers in series history, Uale Mai and Mikaele Pesamino, played for Samoa. Pesamino was also named the 2010 IRB International Sevens Player of the Year, an honour which Uale Mai, a former team captain and one of the most capped players in the sport, had won in 2006. Captain Lolo Lui and teammate Alafoti Fa'osiliva had also been nominated.^[10]

Crowd at the 2009 Hong Kong Sevens.

Anitelea Aiolupo Alapasa Cordtz Samu Eteuati Lome Fa'atau Fa'atonu Fili Alama Ieremia Timoteo Iousa Malaki Iupeli Danny Kaleopa Lolani Koko Brian Lima Kiri Mariner Luke Mealamu

Junior Paramore Happyvelly Patu Kevin Senio Mikaele Senio Afato So'oalo Steven So'oialo Mark Tanuvasa Filipo Toala Aleki Toleafoa Leamy Toleafoa Ofisa Tonu'u Jnr Alesana Tuilagi Sila Vaifale Alefaio Vaisuai Leon Schaumkel

Other statistics

Year	Host		Cup Final				Plate Final
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		Winner	Score	Runner-up
2009 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		New Zealand	24-12	Samoa		Australia	7-0	South Africa
2008 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		South Africa	19-12	England		Samoa	12-7	Kenya
2007 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		New Zealand	31-21	Fiji		Argentina	15-14	Samoa
2004 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		England	26 - 21	Fiji		Samoa	21 - 19	Argentina

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2010 Details	Westpac Stadium	Fiji	19-14	Samoa	Australia	26-22	South Africa
2008 Details	Westpac Stadium	New Zealand	22-7	Samoa	South Africa	19-12	Wales

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007[11] Details	San Diego, California	Fiji	38 - 24	Samoa	South Africa	28 - 19	Scotland
2005[12] Details	Carson, California	New Zealand	34 - 5	Argentina	Fiji	24 - 21	Samoa

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007 Details	Outeniqua Park	New Zealand	33-9	Fiji	South Africa	12-7	Samoa
2005 Details	Outeniqua Park	Fiji	21 - 19	Argentina	Samoa	17 - 5	New Zealand

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007 Details	Adelaide Oval	Fiji	21-7	Samoa	Australia	31-0	South Africa

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007 Details	Murrayfield	New Zealand	34-5	Samoa	Fiji	31-7	Kenya

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2006 Details	Stade Jean-Bouin	South Africa	33-12	Samoa	Fiji	31-12	Argentina

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2006 Details	National Stadium, Singapore	Fiji	40-21	England	Samoa	26-5	France

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2006 Details	Twickenham	Fiji	54-14	Samoa	South Africa	42-7	Kenya

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
1998 Details	Hong Kong Stadium	Fiji	28-19	Samoa	South Korea	40–14	Papua New Guinea

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
1979 Details	HK Football Club Stadium	Australia	39-3	Samoa	Papua New Guinea	13-10	Hawaii

See also

• Samoa national rugby union team
• Rugby union in Samoa

References

1. International Rugby Board, Retrieved 31 May 2010
2. "Samoa win Hong Kong Sevens". Times LIVE. 28 March 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
3. "Superb Samoa wins Adelaide Sevens". International Rugby Board. 21 March 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
4. Hunter, Russell (22 March 2010). "A breathtaking achievement". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
5. pg2015.gems.pro (9 July 2015). "2015 Pacific Games Men's 7s" (PDF). Retrieved 11 July 2015.
6. IRB (16 July 2014). "Commonwealth Games Sevens squads: Latest". Retrieved 24 July 2014.
7. "Constitution Amendment Act (No 2) 1997". Retrieved 27 November 2007.
8. "2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series schedule set" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
9. "Overall Standings". International Rugby Board. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
10. "NZ sevens players miss awards list". Television NZ. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
11. Official 2007 Results
12. Official 2005 Results

External links

• Official Samoa Rugby Union website
• Samoa Sevens on facebook
• Manu Samoa Supporters Website