The Manu Sina Head Coach Lauaki Ramsey Tomokino says his players are excited at the prospect of his team taking on the Australian Wallaroos in July this year.

The Samoan women’s rugby  team will play two tests against Australia in July as part of an international double header in Brisbane.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer on Wednesday, Lauaki said his team was excited at the opportunity to play two test matches against quality opposition such as Australia.

He added that they are thankful for funding support courtesy of the PacificAus Sports as well as Rugby Australia and the Wallaroos team.

"As a collective team and Management, we are certainly excited at this opportunity to play two test matches with a quality opposition such as Australia,” he said. 

“We are grateful to the funding from PacificAus Sports – a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Australia and Pacific Step-up initiative, Rugby Australia, the Wallaroos team, and especially Jilly Collins for her vision that has made these matches possible.

"I believe this is probably the first series Manu Sina will have played in against one nation as opposed to sporadic one off matches that have been qualification or tournament fixtures. 

“We are also grateful to Lakapi Samoa for supporting our Manu Sina team in taking up this opportunity.”

Acknowledging the benefits of such an opportunity, Lauaki said he is grateful as they will be able to represent Samoa and he is proud to have a management team made up of former players of the Manu Sina squad.

"One of the other most important achievements out of these matches is that since we have restarted an XV aside program, we have had fixtures on an annual basis. 

“Against Tonga in November we acknowledged Masuisuimatamaalii (Sui) Pauaraiasa having her tenth match for Samoa which might not sound like many.

“However, when you consider that our most capped player Muliagatele Niuafolau Alaisalatemaota Bakulich-Leavasa – best known as Ala – who is one of the team’s physiotherapist played 17 matches for Samoa and three for the World XV across a span of 2002 to 2014, yet given the number of games we have on the radar this year, players can look to potentially add five to seven matches to their list of matches played for Samoa. 

“So it is important to recognize the opportunities our Samoan women have been given to play for our beloved Samoa and that this viable competition that in the past has been adhoc with long periods of no rugby."

Looking at the composition of his management team, he singled out three women who are former Manu Sina players in Ala Leavasa-Bakulich (Physio), Cynthia Ta'ala-Timaloa (Assistant Coach) and Puna Denise Tia (Manager who took over from Tauanu'u Nick Bakulich).

Lauaki said this year will be a big one for the team and everything that the team is doing is building towards ensuring they play their best football in terms of Rugby World Cup qualification. 

"This gives a huge opportunity to test ourselves and is part of our preparation,” he told this newspaper. 

“Following the July test matches, we will look forward to Oceania in September at this stage earmarked to be in New Zealand and then October has been one of the dates for the final qualification tournament. 

“The dates are still very fluid and moving around this final tournament so this will give us some good continuity. 

“The final qualification tournament will see us potentially match up against one of the 6 Nations teams or Spain so we need to have a good showing against Australia or to highlight where we need to be competitive for the qualification matches.”

His players are also involved in club rugby and they have been having players send in their performance results from New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, Asia and the United States. 

"We are keeping tabs on our players and their current fitness levels. We will look to have a mini-camp and a pre-match before we leave and a small camp after. 

“There is a lot of work to do. We want to take across as strong a team as possible to honor the occasion."

Lauaki told this newspaper that he is yet to name his squad for these two matches in July with one scheduled for Suncorp Stadium on Saturday 17 July and the other on Thursday 22 July against the Buildcorp Wallaroos at Leichhardt Oval.

Asked if the squad was selected, he said: "Not yet, but we will be looking to name a wider squad soon. 

“We are currently eight weeks out so our planning and vetting of players have been our priority. 

“We are limited somewhat to selections based purely on the travel bubble that has opened between New Zealand and Australia with our team being mostly domiciled in these countries.

“However, the travel to Monaco of our Manu Sina 7s might open the opportunity for some of our local-based players to be included depending on managed quarantine spots. 

“We are also looking at a few of the other local players and what is involved in trying to get them across and our players in Asia and the U.S. also. 

“There are lots of moving parts and the nature of the travel world with restrictions that we are in might hinder some of our selections. But I believe we will still be able to select a competitive squad.”