Preview: Manu Samoa

By Worried of Whitton
November 22 2005

International Rugby returns to The Stoop, Twickenham on Wednesday night, November23rd as NEC Harlequins take on the might of Manu Samoa, kick off is at 7.45pm. This game is billed as a warm up, for Samoa before their match against England at that other Rugby Stadium in Twickenham, three days later.

This match was announced in late in October, by Mark Evans who stated that “We are delighted to be staging a game against Manu Samoa at the Twickenham Stoop and I’m sure our fans will thoroughly enjoy seeing Quins take on such an exciting team. Until recently, the way the global rugby community has failed to support the Pacific Islands has been a disgrace. Hopefully this fixture will, in some small way, assist the Samoan Union to fulfill such an ambitious project as a full tour of Europe. I would urge all rugby supporters to attend this match as a demonstrable show of support for Samoan rugby.”

The match announcement and his comments were preceded by remarks he made at the “Meet the Managers Evening” held for Harlequins Supporters at The Stoop two weeks earlier on October 6^th. At that meeting Evans was very damning about the RFU in his response to a question regarding the price of England match tickets at Twickenham. As recorded and reported by The Prof, when questioned further;

 “Do you think the gate should go to the lesser country?” his response was

“The away teams do not get any of the gate; there is no sharing of the gate in international rugby per se. That’s why the morally disgraceful rape of the South Sea Islands continues unabated.”

A follow up question asked “Should they get the gate then?” the reply was

“I think they should get a significant percentage, a couple of hundred thousand or half a million goes a long way in Samoa. There are going to be 82000 seats in that stadium, average ticket price about £65, son that means about £4.2 million on the gate, another million in food and drink sales at 21% so they’ll clear £5M a game, oh plus the £50M they’ve just raised in selling debentures in the South Stand. They’re not short of a bob or two. So I think the way England and the other rich nations have treated the likes of Romania, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Canada over the years has been nothing short of a disgrace. When I hear about them getting up on their hind legs and talking about spreading the game globally it just makes me want to vomit quite frankly. “

In the light of the RFU announcing profits of £6.3 million and cash reserves of £43.8 million earlier this week, supports Mark’s arguments. It therefore comes as no surprise therefore that Harlequins have agreed that 50% of the proceeds from this match will be retained by Manu Samoa, to help support their great rugby nation.  If you have not got your tickets the prices are just;

£15 – Adult seats in Gold and Premier sections of the East and Lexus stands
£10 – Adult seats in Club, Touchline and Tryline sections of the East and Lexus stands
£ 5 – Concessions (including students) in all sections of the East and Lexus stands

The cost of seats for season ticket holders, with Voucher No.30 is as follows:

- For season ticket holders and members all seats are £10
- For Joker season ticket holders and members all seats are £ 5
- For Debenture holders all seats are £ 7

The North stand will not be open for this fixture, therefore all North stand season ticket holders will be relocated in either the East or Lexus stand, whichever preference is chosen.

 

On their tour Samoa are playing three test matches the first of these was against Scotland last Sunday, they also face England this weekend and then on to Argentina on December 3^rd.  Their match against Harlequins is the second in a series of “warm up” matches having played Cambridge University which they won 22 -9 scoring four tries and one conversion to the three Cambridge penalties. I understand that they we also due to play Glasgow Warriors earlier this month, but this match didn’t take place.

When they announced their squad for the three-Test, end-of-year tour Manu Samoa it was interesting to note that of the thirty players chosen, twenty play abroad, an area that perhaps both the Welsh and Irish RU’s need to address Ten of those play in New Zealand, five in England, two in Scotland and one each in Wales, France and Australia. One of those players is ex Harlequin Opeta Palepoi who now plays at Borders. The Samoan team is being coached by the legendary Michael Jones, who played for them before going on to be an All Black star, and who was voted the Player of the Tournament at the Rugby World Cup of 1987.

At an empty Murrayfield on Sunday, a very spirited Samoan side was eventually subdued by Scotland who were victors by just 18-11, but they would have been very bruised and battered by end of the match. At times it appeared that the Scots were playing touch rugby, eager to get rid of the ball lest another blue shoulder should thump into them. The Scottish mauls were strong one was strong enough to produce the equalising try. At half time the scores were level at 8-8.In the end it was Scotland who eventually spread the ball wide enough to produce their winning try, in the closing quarter of the match. Samoa worked very hard winning turnover ball in the tackle as they drove hard and low. They certainly had enough possession to win, and stunned the Scottish by scoring a try very early on, but overall they lacked the effort and discipline to win.  Despite having their fast wings available, they were hardly used as when Samoa did have the ball on the run they were content to play the ball back inside rather than to look for chances on the wing, a move which eventually won Scotland the game.

It is a somewhat bizarre fixture line up this week, Quins played a top of the table ND 1 game on Sunday, then they have an International match against Manu Samoa on Wednesday which is then followed by a trip to deepest Somerset to play Bridgewater in a cup match, returning to another top of the table clash in ND1 the week after.

Harlequins have announced their team, and as expected it is mainly a Second XV side thus resting a number of those players who performed so magnificently last weekend. Quins have indeed selected at 23 man squad and congratulations to James Hayter for picking up the captaincy. It certainly is a bone crunching back line that has been picked with Harder, Turner Hall and Masson starting together, with Amesbury the whippet to speed down the other wing.

I guess that all our Samoan Quins would have been very eager for a chance to play as all three; Fuga, Harder and So’oilao have played for their country. So’oilao played most recently, against England in the 2003 World Cup. It is a surprise that Fuga is not named but he certainly needs the rest after his powerful performance on Sunday, but I m sure he’ll be watching the match.

To find out more about Manu Samoa just log on to their Web site at manusamoa.com.ws

NEC Harlequins: 
15. Mike Brown,14. George Harder,13. Tosh Masson,12. Jordan Turner-Hall, 11.Charlie Amesbury,     10. Adrian Jarvis,9. Ian Vass,1. Mike Worsley,2. James Hayter (c) 3. Lorne Ward,4. Kevin Burke,          5. James Inglis,6. Chris Robshaw,7. Tom Guest, 8. Tony Diprose,
Replacements: 16. Aston Croall,17. Alex Rogers,18. Jimmy Richards,19. George Robson,20. Luke Sherriff,
21. Steve So’oialo,22. Tom Williams,23. Kiba Richards

Manu Samoa Touring Squad:
Forwards: Justin Va’a (Wellington, New Zealand), Donald Kerslake (Vaiala, Samoa), Kas Lealamanu’a (Biarritz, France), Census Johnston (Taranaki, New Zealand), Mahonri Schwalger (Wellington, New Zealand), Sonny Faata (Vaiala, Samoa), Pelu Taele-Pavihi (Otago, New Zealand), Paul Tupai (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand), Daniel Leo (Queensland, Australia), Opeta Palepoi (Borders, Scotland), Simaika Mikaele (SCOPA, Samoa), Semo Sititi (Borders, Scotland), Jonathon Faamatuainu (Auckland, New Zealand), Iosefa Taina (Marist St Josephs, Samoa), Ulia Ulia (Marist St Josephs, Samoa), Daniel Farani (Coventry, United Kingdom)
Backs: Garrick Cowley (Bay of Plenty, New Zealand), Notise Tauafao (Malie, Samoa), Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu (Auckland, New Zealand), Faletoese Talapusi (Lupe o le Soaga, Samoa), Terry Fanolua (Gloucester, United Kingdom), Kiri Mariner (Lalomalava, Samoa ), Aukuso Collins (Wellington, New Zealand), Anitele’a Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, United Kingdom), Brian Lima (Bristol, United Kingdom), Gasolo Salima (Yazaki, Samoa), Lome Faatau (Wellington, New Zealand), Alesana Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers, United Kingdom), Lolo Lui (Moataa, Samoa), Roger Warren (Cardiff, United Kingdom)