Samoa

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.

The Samoa Rugby teams of the past has included some internationally recognised players and has two inductees to the World Rugby Hall of Fame. The first of these two players is Samoa's iconic winger Brian Lima, who currently is the nation's most capped player and the record try scorer. The other is the late Peter Fatialofa who captained the side in their first World Cup in 1991.

The current Samoa Rugby team also has a number of quality players playing in some of domestic rugby union's top sides. This includes Newcastle Falcons prop Logovi'i Mulipola, current captain and loose forward Jack Lam and London Irish hooker Motu Matu'u.

The team is also known for performing the Siva Tau - a Samoan war dance - before each match.