Former Wallabies first-five Christian Lealiifano has been called on by a Manu Samoa star to make himself available for the Pacific Island nation in test rugby.
by Alex McLeod View all Samoa Rugby Team news
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The Samoa Rugby team – also known as ‘Manu Samoa’ honouring a celebrated Samoan warrior – are an established international side, despite the Polynesian island nation’s modest size. The team currently is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance and competes in Rugby World Cup tournaments, as well as the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup in which they have three titles to their name so far.
If you’d like to learn more about the Samoa Rugby team then take a look on this page to get an insight into the team’s history as well as their international record. You can also find the latest fixtures and results.
Rugby union was introduced to what was Western Samoa, at the time, in 1924 by visiting Marist Brothers missionaries. In that same year Samoa played their first international game against Fiji, with the visitors ending up the victors with a 6-0 win. This game laid the foundations for future games and tours of neighbouring Pacific islands over the following decades, before an official series the Pacific Tri-Nations between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa was formed in 1982.
Over the 1980s and 90s the Samoa Rugby team played and defeated a number of top European sides which helped them make a big impression on the world rugby stage. This included a 14-match tour of Europe and a World Cup elimination series held in Tokyo, with the latter earning the side a place in the 1991 World Cup.
This tournament was a huge success for Manu Samoa, as the team beat heavyweights like Wales and Argentina to earn what was an unprecedented quarterfinals finish where they lost out to Scotland 28-6 at Murrayfield. Following the creation of professional rugby in 1995, Samoa was able to create a more structured administration and in the World Cup of this year, again went on to an impressive quarterfinals finish.
To date, despite the country’s small size, the Samoa Rugby team have been involved in every World Cup after this with a quarterfinal play-off finish in 1999 and pool stage finishes in every other tournament since. The other main international honours include Samoa’s three tournament wins in the annual Pacific Nations Cup.