Potential Manu Samoa debutant forced to choose between club and country
New Manu Samoa call-up Belgium Tuatagaloa has put his career in jeopardy after opting to play for his country ahead of this year’s World Cup instead of staying with his club in France, according to Stuff.
The 29-year-old, who played sevens for both New Zealand and Samoa, was contracted to Valence Romans, which played in the Fédérale One, the third tier of French rugby, before earning promotion into the Pro D2.
Tuatagaloa was in contract negotiations with the side for the new season, but after being named in the Samoan squad for the first time for the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup, he was given an ultimatum.
“They offered me a contract before I knew I was going to be selected for the Samoan team,” Tuatagaloa told Stuff.
“We were negotiating the contract and a month later I got the call from Mr Jackson [Samoa coach Steve Jackson] that I’d made the team.
“So I told the [Valence Romans] coach [Johann Authier], at that time he said it was good that I’d made the team, but I don’t think he believed me.
“Three weeks after that he said to me that they were going to come back with another offer, but with this offer I have to choose whether I play in the World Cup, or stay with us.
“He told me I could attend the camp for the PNC [Pacific Nations Cup], then before we played in our semi-final he told me they were scared of letting me go to the camp, because I might make the World Cup squad.
“He didn’t say ‘we don’t want you to go to the PNC,’ but he was trying to hint for two weeks that they wanted a player who was going to be here for the beginning of the Pro D2 season.
“After that he called my agent and told me they weren’t going to contract me because I might make the World Cup team.
“When I hit him up about that, he said the president says he doesn’t want to pay for players who attend the World Cup instead of playing with us.”
World Rugby’s regulation nine stipulates that players must be released by their clubs for World Cups, but French sides have become notorious for finding ways around this, with Pacific Island players often the victims of such scenarios as a result of belonging to unions with less power and financial strength to challenge that of European clubs.
“I guess at the end of the day they didn’t want to contract a player who wasn’t going to be there at the beginning of the season,” Tuatagaloa said.
“I did have one final talk with the coach and he said there was one solution, if I make the World Cup they can bring me back as a medical joker.
“I was like whatever, because my focus is to play for my country. I was never going to pick a club over my country.
“I’ve never played XVs for Samoa before and this might be the only opportunity I get.
“I wanted to come back and play for my country. If I’d played for Samoa before, or if I had a family, maybe I might have stayed, but I don’t have anyone, so I could choose to come back and play for my country.”
Fearing he may have been replaced in the squad if Jackson knew about his predicament, Tuatagaloa, who is now without a club, reverted to talking with his father about the situation, before eventually deciding to commit to Samoa.
“I didn’t want to talk to him [Jackson] about it, because I didn’t want to ruin my chances with the Samoan team,” he said.
“I’m a new player in the squad, so I didn’t want to put any pressure on the head coach, because he’s got a 1000 other players to choose from and it was an honour for me to be selected.
“So I had a chat with my dad and then made the decision that I was going to go the camp.”
Should Tuatagaloa perform well for Samoa at the Pacific Nations Cup, it will put him in good stead to challenge for a place in the World Cup squad in a couple months’ time.
He hopes that if he can get an opportunity to prove his worth on the global stage in Japan, then offers from other clubs will come rolling in.
“The plan is to play well in the PNC and make the World Cup and after that to look for another contract to go overseas,” he said.
“Hopefully I’ll get one, if not, I’ll try to play for a province in New Zealand.”
Samoa’s Pacific Nations Cup campaign kicks off on July 27 against Tonga in Apia, and continues with two more matches against the United States and Fiji in Suva in the following weeks.
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Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments