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Samoa opt for continuity with strong team picked for Argentina
By Grant Constable
Head coach Seilala Mapusua has made just three changes to his Samoa team to play Argentina in Pool D in Saint-Étienne on Friday, with only two changes to his forwards and one change in his backs from the team that defeated Chile 43-10 in their last game.
Paul Alo-Emile comes into the front-row, Brian Alainu’u’ese into the second-row, while powerful winger Ben Lam joins out wide.
Chris Vui will captain the team for the 12th time in his career, and third time at the Rugby World Cup after their pool victory against Russia in 2019 and last week against Chile.
Bringing experience from other countries, Samoa have three players in the team who have played Test rugby elsewhere, with Steven Luatua and Charlie Faumuina earning 15 and 50 caps for the All Blacks respectively, while playmaker Christian Leali’ifano amassed 26 tests for the Wallabies.
Moana Pasifika is well represented with 5 of the Samoan players playing together for them in Super Rugby, Nigel Ah-Wong, Christian Leali’ifano, Jonathan Taumateine, Danny Toala, and Alai D’Angelo Leuila.
Fullback Duncan Paia’aua is the only player to have played every minute for Samoa this year across all five tests. He is currently on a three-game try-scoring run, after crossing just once across his first four tests for Samoa, while flanker Theo McFarland did not miss a tackle against Chile, completing all 14 attempts.
SAMOA TEAM TO PLAY ARGENTINA ON FRIDAY
1. James Lay
2 Seilala Lam
3 Paul Alo-Emile
4 Brian Alainu'u'ese
5 Chris Vui (c)
6 Theo McFarland
7 Fritz Lee
8 Steven Luatua
9 Jonathan Taumateine
10 Christian Leali'ifano
11 Ben Lam
12 Tumua Manu
13 Ulupano Junior Seuteni
14 Nigel Ah-Wong
15 Duncan Paia'aua
Replacements:
16 Sama Malolo
17 Charlie Faumuina
18 Michael Alaalatoa
19 Taleni Junior Agaese Seu
20 Sa Jordan Taufua
21 Melani Matavao
22 Alai D'Angelo Leuila
23 Danny Toala
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I’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
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