He might have played the game of his life but Manu Samoa second five, Henry Taefu, was still gutted after Samoa’s loss to Japan last Sunday morning.

The 26-year-old scored all of Samoa’s points in the, 38-19 loss to Japan, but that came as no consolation for Taefu, who still felt he could have done more:

“Not too bad, but a loss is a loss. That’s what I take out of that game,” he said.

Taefu said the Manu improved from the previous game against Scotland, but it was not enough.

“The game was there to be won, obviously we came in with that goal, that mindset to win,” he said.

“They picked up a couple late tries at the end there, but I thought we were in there and challenging them that whole game.”

He thought a similar effort the previous week could have been enough to trouble Scotland:

“If we went in with the same mindset, the same physicality, maybe the scores would’ve been different.”

Taefu said they now have nothing to lose against Ireland when they play on Sunday morning Samoan time in Fukuoka.

“We saw what Japan did, a good performance against Ireland and we’re hoping to do the same.”

If Taefu gets the start at second five again, he’ll likely play opposite Bundee Aki, who has Samoan heritage.

“Obviously he’s a good player, a lot of those Irish players are good,” Taefu said.

In the Japan game he had to help mark centre Tim Lafaele, who was born in Samoa.

The game saw the completion of a pact between the two midfielders, who faced off at club level in Global Rapid Rugby back in April.

“He wasn’t playing at the time, he was out injured, but I made a promise to him that we’ll swap jerseys after the game (at the Rugby World Cup),” Taefu said