BETWEEN THE LINES

Is this Samoa’s Manu Samoa?

Two issues stand out like a sore thumb in the selection of the Manu Samoa.

Firstly, there is not a single player picked from the competitions in Samoa. 

Yes we are talking about the Super Nine, which the Samoa Rugby Union has been making so much noises about and yet not one player has been picked.

Interestingly a lot of them are playing in the Samoa A, which have just given Argentina’s second best team a hiding in the Americas Pacific Challenge Competition. That must count for something, not forgetting that Argentina are no longer walk overs in world rugby.

So surely a couple of those players deserve a shot at the Manu Samoa.

Secondly, reading through the management team, as a Samoan, you will struggle to recognise any of those names. From the senior coaches all the way to the strength and conditioning staff.

That’s because apart from the Manager, Vaaelua Aloi Alesana, we don’t know where everyone else came from. And these are the guys who are expected to take a Samoan team to the Rugby World Cup.

Now is it just BTL or is there something awfully wrong with this picture? 

What happened to all the local coaches? 

It seems to me that seat on the World Rugby Council has come as such a hefty price; Samoa’s freedom to make its own decisions. 

Or is this another case of beggars can’t be choosers.

Samoa Observer

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