A selection headache looms for Manu Samoa head coach Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua after Manu Samoa’s 34-9 win over Tonga on Saturday at Apia Park.

The win reflected the local side's dominant display in the second half as the young blood showed that they too are knocking on the door for selection.

Melani Matavao and Theodore McFarland put on an impressive game after coming on as replacements to help the team go up a notch to record an impressive second-half performance.

Young hooker Sama Malolo got the nod to start along with Miracle Fai’ilagi who stood out on the field.

“The game showed that we got better as the game went on, a week better. The impact of our bench was really pleasant to see and seeing Theo McFarland out there after such a prolonged rest was really good, so there will be tough decisions to make,” Vaovasamanaia said. “Miracle is getting better and he is the same as Theo and it is a great headache to have.

“Matavao just keeps getting better with time and I think he brought in real good energy into the game when he came on. It is always good to have someone with Melani’s character come off the bench.”

Vaovasamanaia will have to make the tough decision on Sunday and let the players know who will travel to France for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

From the 50-odd players, the squad will be cut down to 33 and so far there are no major injury worries for Vaovasamanaia. The coach has also hinted that if the paperwork for Lima Sopoaga gets done properly, there is a chance he could be in France but nothing is set in concrete.

Manu Samoa captain Michael Ala’alatoa said he was happy with the game on Saturday but wanted to remind the players that the real battle was ahead.

“Not to get ahead of ourselves, we still have a lot of growth left in us. The second half is something our people can be proud of but at the same time we have a lot of room to improve,” he said. “We gave away some penalties in the first half that is what we have to look out for.”

Tonga coach Toutai Kefu said this was not the result of the game that he expected with an increase in injuries to players now adding to their woes. 

“We had really good momentum last week but this was perhaps a step backwards. We have some injuries and right now we don't know the extent of injuries but we will find out after the medical staff have a look at it, maybe 24 hours or 36 hours to see what is really wrong with the players,” said Kefu.

Manu Samoa came over a tenacious Tonga 34-9 at Apia Park on Saturday afternoon in a match that started slow but built up in momentum as time went on.

The game at the Apia Park stadium started with both teams playing cautiously. However, Tonga went up on the scoreboard first with a penalty and five minutes later Samoa answered with a spot kick as well.

It was Samoa who scored next through a try to their hooker Sama Malolo, to enable the home side to lead 10-3. But Tonga converted two more penalties to edge closer 10-9 but Samoa had the last say as they also slotted in a penalty to lead 13-9 at halftime. The second half was a different story which saw Samoa score three tries and didn’t allow Tonga to score any more points.

Samoa managed to show what they can do with the ball and was very impressive with their ball control and defence. Manu Samoa now heads to France next week with two wins out of three games.