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
Results probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
1 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to comments