Samoan women’s rugby legend and former Australian Wallaroo, Se’ei Sa’u, put on her boots and played for Samoa's Tilafaiga sevens team in their match against the Australian Burra Rays last Thursday.

The match was played to coincide with the 60th Independence Vodafone Sevens celebration. 

Se’ei Sa’u was a surprise inclusion in the team, and offered to play for Tilafaiga when she realised they were short on players for their match.  

She said "today was about encouraging the young girls to keep going and to play for each other." 

"They had put a team together only yesterday and came up short today. I was happy to be their number 8 player. Rugby's not just for the young it’s for all ages. Maybe my playing days aren't over yet."

Se’ei Sa’u travelled to Samoa with Rugby Australia officials and the Burra Rays team to support the Australian Government’s PacificAus Sports program and promote the growth of women's rugby in Samoa. 

Meanwhile, the Women's Rugby World Cup (WRWC) Trophy made its way to Samoa recently as part of its tour within the Pacific Region. A welcoming ceremony was held to welcome the cup through a traditional ava ceremony.

Lakapi Samoa welcomed the arrival of the trophy with the traditional ava ceremony. There to receive them last week were teachers and young girls from a number of secondary schools who also have a passion for the sport. After the welcome ceremony, the school girls and teachers took photos with the trophy.

The tour started in Papua New Guinea before making its way to the Cook Islands, Tonga and Samoa last week and Fiji this week. The tour will continue for another a week in Fiji before 'Nancy' – the name of the trophy – is taken back to New Zealand where the WRWC will kick off.

The purpose of the tour is to bring it to countries and get people engaged with the Women's Rugby World Cup as well as promote it to further showcase the women's rugby.

Stefanie Holland ,who is the Delivery Manager-Community Rugby platforms, said they are trying to get more people engaged with the WRWC.

"We're trying to get people engaged with the Women's rugby world cup, it's massive and so much going on and it will be great for communities to meet us and the trophy, so everyone can say hi to Nancy," he said. "We have a few activities going on at some schools."

The World Cup will kick-off and run from 8 October to 12 November in New Zealand at the various host venues. They include Eden Park, Auckland, Northland Events Centre, Whangarei, Waitakere Stadium, Auckland. Up to 12 of the world's top women teams in WRWC gathered in one place to finally get the chance to compete with each other after the world cup had been postponed in 2021.

The trophy was on display during the Teuila festival Tuesday night at the Cultural Center next to the Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) office.