The Manu Samoa 7s team is stranded in Dubai and were denied passage onto a repatriation flight to New Zealand, multiple sources within the team's camp and former Manu Samoa international Daniel Leo have said.  

An apparent failure for the team to comply with the Samoan Government's own requirements to prove they do not present a COVID-19 risk is behind the team's stranding, several internal sources have said. 

In addition to the failure to prepare the team for their return journey to Samoa, the Lakapi Samoa management is also apparently strapped for cash and relying on charity from Samoans in Dubai to take in members of the squad.  

Two sources within the Manu 7s camp confirmed that the players were stranded in Dubai for a period of at least four weeks while waiting for the next possible flight to Auckland and said that the team was being kept in the dark for the official reason.

But team members have been told to reach out to local members of Dubai's Samoan community, something which the sources said suggested the team had simply run out of money. 

It is understood that World Rugby has said it will step in to provide financial assistance to the stranded Manu squad. 

"Manu Samoa stranded in Dubai," the official said. 

"[We have] run out of money. N.Z. says [there is] no isolation available in N.Z.; [they are] unable to transit in N.Z. [because] the next Air N.Z. flight to Samoa is not until late July. 

"[The] Samoan community in Dubai is being approached for assistance."

Another member of the affected Manu camp said that the team was stranded but had not been given a reason for their being stranded by team management. United Arab Emirates authorities had said that a failure to meet the travel requirements imposed by their own Government was the reason the squad was left stranded.

These sources' statements were bolstered by public statements by Daniel Leo. 

The former Samoan rugby international took to Twitter on Thursday to add detail to the drama surrounding the return of Samoa’s national team.

“Samoa govt. blocking Manu 7s & Manu Sina from entering after blood tests didn’t meet Samoa MOH standards,” Leo tweeted.  

“Now [those stranded players] must wait till 27th July to determine date to travel back to Samoa.

"World Rugby were unaware but have confirmed they are now assisting.”

It is understood the team and their officials were among 72 people who were refused boarding in Auckland last Friday, as they didn’t meet their own Government's Ministry of Health entry requirements for proving they were not actively infected with the COVID-19 virus. 

The team is now stranded in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and according to Leo in another tweet early Thursday, says the team have reached out to the Samoan diaspora in the United Arab Emirates to assist them.

“Samoan 7s team who played in Monaco Olympic qualifier now trapped indefinitely in Dubai and asking for help from local Samoan Community there," Leo said. 

The caretaker Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi told his weekly program on TV3 on Wednesday night that it was the job of the team’s manager to fix their travel including meeting COVID-19 requirements.

"I think approximately 30 people are affected by this in Dubai so when the news came to me as I am the leader of the country and chairman of the rugby union, so now we are faced with a difficult decision,” Tuilaepa told the televised program.

“And our decision, based on safety, we will still wait until they are fully vaccinated because this is a failure on the manager's side, he should've looked into this.

"No matter what the rugby team's position is, we will still go through with the right process which requires them to spend some time in quarantine in New Zealand before heading back to Samoa, this is all for the protection and safety of our people due to the second variant of the virus. 

“So we are not going to look at a smaller picture but the bigger picture because we cannot let them (rugby team) in Samoa if they don't meet the requirements by M.O.H. because the whole country's safety is at stake."

An official of the Manu Sina 7s team, who did not want to be identified, said there are discussions within their camp currently that they will return on 27 July but they are still unsure.

Attempts by Samoa Observer to get a comment from the management of Manu Samoa 7s as the Lakapi Samoa management were unsuccessful.

A request for comment from the United Arab Emirates immigration department sent on Wednesday night was not returned.