Manusina wins first two matches, ready to take on Australia

By Ivamere Nataro 12 July 2019, 2:35PM

A determined Manusina 7s side won their two matches at the first day of the rugby 7s competition at the Marist St Joseph’s ground in Lotopa on Friday.

The La'auli Rudy Leavasa-coached team won their first match against New Caledonia 20-0 and American Samoa 45-0. 

La'auli said the team needs to work on their defense playing against top seeded side, Australia. 

“After our first two games, our team needs to work on a lot of things, especially the scrappy calls that we make,” he said. 

"I told the girls that we need work on our defense that is really what I wanted to talk to them about, so we can really prepare for the match with Australia. 

“Anyone can attack but on defense we need to guess who has the ball so we need to work on that and improve our game.

“Our aim and plan is to beat Australia especially that Australia plays in the World Series for women, same as our boys, so we are trying to beat the Australians.” 

Apart from Australia, he said, they will also need to prepare for Fiji and Papua New Guinea, who are already in the HSBC series. 

La'auli said the girls have been training two months for this day, and they will do their best to win that gold medal. 

“We’ve been waiting a lot of time for these events. 

We have been preparing to take the gold, and that’s our aim 

“Our girls got what it takes, and we’ve been preparing for two months to take on the teams.”

He said it will mean a lot to win the gold medal as it is the first time for the Manusina to play in their home country. 

“The home crowd is also the boost for the girls to get us there,” La'auli said. 

Manusina plays Australia at 3:22pm (local time). 

Tags

Rugby union
Samoa Rugby Union
By Ivamere Nataro 12 July 2019, 2:35PM

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