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'Hits a little bit different': Luatua on Manu Samoa win
By Ned Lester
A change in eligibility laws has given new life to the international careers of many former All Blacks who hail from the mighty Pasifika nations.
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Steven Luatua donned the black jersey 15 times between 2013 and 2016 before switching allegiance to Manu Samoa in 2022.
Luatua and comany got their Rugby World Cup campaign off to a winning start with a 43-10 victory over Chile in round two. A 19-10 haftime lead was blown out in a scoring spree just after the break, with three tries – four if you include the Duncan Paia’aua’s effort after the halftime whistle – in 10 minutes displaying the brutal force of the Samoan forward pack.
A rare alley-oop try to halfback Jonathan Taumateine to start the second period showed the innovation and athleticism of the group.
The win has Samoa sitting third in their pool with Tests against Argentina, Japan and England remining.
A Rugby World Cup debut with his home country was a special moment for Luatua.
“It was pretty cool today,” Luatua told NZR+’s The Front Row Daily Show. “That was pretty cool. I’m not going to lie.
“Obviously, I grew up in New Zealand, learning the haka and having massive respect for Maori culture, but to be able to do it for my own culture, the Manu Siva Tau, just hits a little bit different.”
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A veteran of the game with worldly rugby experience, Luatua has a lot of wisdom to offer his new team. That doesn’t necessarily translate to any additional pressure on the versatile forward to contribute in a leadership sense though.
“I wouldn’t say pressure, maybe a little bit. I wouldn’t necessarily tell the boys what to do but if they pick up a few things here and there from what I do off the field, so be it you know.”
Prior to his days in the All Blacks, Luatua was involved in two New Zealand U20 campaigns. In both 2010 and 2011, the Baby Blacks went all the way to win the World Championhsip with Luatua one of many famous names to emerge from the side.
In fact, nine of the starting XV from the 2011 side are at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, reprsesting four different nations.
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Codie Taylor, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane and Beauden Barrett are not just in the All Blacks but are established members of the team’s starting XV.
Ben Tameifuna and Charles Piutau are lining up for Tonga, also as starters. Luatua is joined by Lima Sopoaga with Manu Samoa while Gareth Anscombe is representing Wales.
Now aged 32, Luatua takes inspiration from his former teammates as he navigates the tail end of a storied career.
“For me, it’s class seeing all the boys still representing and still playing on the world stage.
“It just gives me a lot of confidence,” he said. “I’ve been out of the game for a while in terms of internationals and Test rugby, but to see the boys still doing it at our age, I was like sweet, maybe I can too.”
Steve's a kiwi, he was born in NZ. He's no different to Gareth Anscombe, Bundee Aki, James Lowe in representing a foreign country. What they all share in common is being professionally trained and educated by New Zealand rugby somits very unfortunate they aren't eligible for NZ when many if them would significantly strengthen the Allblack team.
NZ's relatively small player base and remarkable results are being diluted by all the offshore poaching of tier one teams and making up over fifty percent of the Pacific island teams.
It's understandable for world rugby to want to help the Pacific islands but it disproportionately is NZ that's being expected to do most of it with millions of dollars being spent in NZ on the Moana Pasifika franchise designed to further assist the islands at the cost of NZ.
Poaching? That's nonsense. Jamison left New Zealand long before he was identified as a potential All Black. And Lowe was virtually ignored. They moved not to represent Ireland but for professional and financial reasons. To further their career. A personal decision. Even if you had another 50 players to choose from, you can only put 15 on the field. Half your team is made up of players with Pasifika heritage. And a few born outside New Zealand. That's the world we live in, so adapt.
What a bunch of ignorance.
How is getting paid boatloads to represent Japan or Ireland the same as getting nothing and losing money to represent your heritage?
You guys have a problem with Samoans playing for their own blood, a tiny dot in the pacific, where colonisation doesn't even give us access to the whole of Samoa and there are less people than an average town in NZ, yet I have to accept certain political agendas about what a woman is and who can live in Israel? And you have the gall to tell us Samoans what a Samoan is despite is not asking you.
My dad wasn't a "kiwi" when your government deported him in the dawn raids, and I sure as hell wasn't a kiwi when the kids called me a coconut at school. NZ is what, 100 years old? Samoa is 3000. We don't have a country in samoa, it's more of an extended family, and your blood is what makes you Samoan not where your mum pushed you out.
Mate, nobody wants to hear the truth. The reality is NZ could select Luatua et all if they chose to, but have their own rules that say they can't. I've no qualms about him and others then going to play for the Islands, they may be born in NZ but have strong heritage in those countries. Can't see why they should be penalised from playing international rugby because of rules created in NZ. NZ and Island rugby are incredibly intertwined, it's difficult to determine where one starts and the other ends, as you allude to.