It was a tough and intense game between Apia Barracudas and SCOPA in the National Rugby League competition on Saturday at Apia Park in which the Barracudas came out on top, 18 -10. 

Apia Barracudas captain, Seumanu Tupea Matau said there was work that needed to be done, especially with discipline. 

"It was a good but tough game. We expected a strong match from SCOPA as they beat one of the top contenders in the first round. So we knew what and who we were up against," he said. 

"They had strong forwards but I think we had more mobile forwards. I believe that's what eventually gave us the edge when their big forwards started slowing down. We eventually came back, because we were trailing most of the game, but we came back and won it in the end. 

"It was through the midfield and our playmakers spreading the balls out. What we need to work on is our discipline. A lot of errors today involve discipline and also our defence. If we had been better on defence, we would probably have prevented some tries. For fitness, some of the boys were slacking, which was also the message from our coach."

Throughout the match, it was very physical, which led to a few disagreements between the two teams, but were resolved, and the match continued on. For Seumanu, he believes that scuffles happen in sports, but if you keep your eyes on the prize then you will eventually know what to do.

"It physically hurts when you get punched in the face, but it hurts more when you lose. It's sweeter to have the victory than to be involved in a scuffle. If you get involved in a scuffle, it is only great in that moment, but if we win the game, we take it until the next game."

Seumanu also shared that the challenge they have is the shortage of players.

"That's one of the things we lacked today was our structure. Most of the boys who played today weren't there for training in the week because they were training with their NPC team. So that is a big challenge for us. 

"Hopefully we'll be able to find a way to make it work. That's what happened today, we were lost on our structure as most of the boys that didn't train with us throughout the week did not know the game plan."