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'They are private conversations' - Fekitoa's watershed moment just the beginning
Seilala Mapusua, the Samoa head coach, believes that when former All Black Malakai Fekitoa pulls on the Tonga jersey to captain the country of his birth for the first time in Monaco tomorrow it will signal a watershed moment in Pacific Islands rugby history.
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Wasps centre Fekitoa, 29, is representing Tonga in this weekend’s Tokyo Olympic sevens qualification tournament in Monaco despite having won 24 test caps for the All Blacks between 2014 and 2017.
Fekitoa is now eligible to play for the nation of his birth because he holds a Tongan passport and has stood down from international rugby for three years and by competing in the Olympic Games qualifying tournament and playing 50 per cent of the games he will satisfy another of the obstacles to swapping nations.
World Rugby President Bill Beaumont is set to review of Regulation 8 which covers eligibility to play for national teams “to see how we can support the longevity of players’ international careers”.
World Rugby has been under increasingly pressure to allow players who have represented one country but now want to switch allegiance and Mapusua is in talks with a number of players he wants to represent Samoa who next month face Tonga in two qualifying matches for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Mapusua, the former London Irish and Samoa centre told RugbyPass: “When you have high profile players like Malakai Fekitoa and Charles Piutau in the discussion about switching countries and making themselves available for the Islands teams it will have major influence, particularly on the young guys coming through.
“Auckland has the biggest Samoan population in the World and there are also a lot of Tongans and you cannot underestimate the impact Fekitoa and Piutau can have. I have had a few conversations with guys who want to switch back to Samoa and it would have been great to get it over the line for the World Cup qualifiers but time was against us. Hopefully we can do that in the near future. At the moment they are private conversations.
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“It is really positive that people are talking about it (regulation change) and I believe it is close to becoming reality. You do get a bit cynical after so much discussion over the years but I am really hopeful that with getting two teams (Fiji Drua and Moana Pasifika) in Super Rugby it will grow the player pool we can select from. It also means our players don’t have to moved too far to play.
“Boys will still go overseas will but there will be more competition for a spot on the international team.”
Getting a Samoa squad together for the Tonga World Cup qualifiers has given Mapusua a major headache as players need to quarantine which has removed Bristol’s Chris Vui from contention while Newcastle’s Logo Mulipola has undergone surgery and will not be fit until the end of the year. “I have lost the whole of the Northern Hemisphere because of the pandemic:” added Mapusua. “It’s been a nightmare.
“The quarantine hotel facilities in New Zealand are all booked up for June and July and if something comes free then we would have to act quickly but there is still two weeks of isolation. We play Tonga on July 10 and 17 and it is a big ask for Chris (Vui) to do that.
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What a boost for @officialTongaRU ? The World Cup-winning All Black will become the highest-profile player to make the switch. #AllBlacks @MalakaiFekitoa pic.twitter.com/xNM9StkR7t
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 11, 2021
“We have a few guys in the MLR in the USA and they have pushed their season back. We are lucky to be playing our World Cup games in New Zealand and we are working hard to deal with things. We should have our players available at the start of the week of the first Tonga match and we have games before that against the Maori All Blacks and they will really stretch us.
“I got the head coach role during the pandemic and so this is all normal for me!”
In addition to Fekitoa, Tonga also have ex-Wallabies utility forward Lopeti Timani, ormer All Blacks Sevens representative Tima Fainga’anuku – the older brother of Crusaders star Leicester – and ex-Australian sevens star Afusipa Taumoepeau in their squad and have been drawn in Pool A with Zimbabwe, Mexico and Ireland with France in the Pool B alongside Hong Kong, Chile, Uganda and Jamaica. The top two teams in each pool will progress to the semi-final with the eventual winners earning the final Olympic spot.
The Olympic men’s rugby sevens competition will take place from 26-28 July, with the women’s tournament following on the 29-31 July. All the action will take place at Tokyo Stadium.
Comments on RugbyPass
One that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
3 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
111 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
1 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
3 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
3 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
111 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to commentsMuch like the Chiefs finally gave up waiting for Atu Moli to ever not be injured, you have to wonder if the Chiefs and Crusaders will let Josh Lord and Ethan Blackadder go next season. They’re being well paid to sit in the injury ward every year. Better off putting those funds towards someone who might actually play.
7 Go to commentsShowed better basic skills than some nz Super sides, who probably would have botched some of those backline moves. This tournament really is too short though. Needs more teams, or have them play two rounds to properly prepare them for the near full-time NH U20 sides.
4 Go to commentsGood grief it’s only six months. Probably just upset it’s not an established kiwi entering their prime they can “project” into green to join the rest.
3 Go to commentsGood player but far from being best in the world. That's an exaggeration. Perhaps Best in world by Northern Hemisphere standards and biasis but certainly not Southern Hemi standards
3 Go to commentsWell one thing about World Cup knock out rounds and Ireland is very clear: they won’t be getting ahead of themselves in ‘27! Because making it beyond the QF is well and truly ‘IN THEIR HEADS’ now…😉
111 Go to commentsHas this guy been dope tested? Sounds like a case of “roid rage”.
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