Powerful winger picked to start for Samoa against Japan
Samoa's head coach Seilala Mapusua has announced four changes to his lineup for their upcoming Pool D clash against Japan in Toulouse on Thursday, following their recent 19-10 loss to Argentina.
In the back-row, Taleni Seu will feature after an impressive display off the bench last week, covering 25 meters, including 20 meters gained past the gain-line, in just 26 minutes.
Sa Jordan Taufua is set to start as number eight, replacing former All Black Steven Luatua. This marks Taufua's first start since November 2022, with his test rugby appearances this season limited to under 40 minutes in each of his three caps as a substitute.
The centre pairing will see Alai D'Angelo Leuila alongside Tumua Manu for only the second time, the first being in July 2022 against Fiji in Lautoka.
On the right-wing, Ed Fidow will start, taking over from Nigel Ah-Wong. Impressively, eight of Fidow's 12 test tries have been scored when starting on the right-wing.
Among the match-day 23, there are 11 players who participated in Samoa's 24-22 victory against Japan earlier this year, including eight in the starting XV: Paul Alo-Emile, Taleni Seu, Jonathan Taumateine, Christian Leali’ifano, Tumua Manu, Ed Fidow, Duncan Paia’aua, and Danny Toala.
SAMOA TEAM TO FACE JAPAN AT THE STADE DE TOULOUSE
1 James Lay
2 Seilala Lam
3 Paul Alo-Emile
4 Chris Vui (c)
5 Theo McFarland
6 Taleni Junior Agaese Seu
7 Fritz Lee
8 Sa Jordan Taufua
9 Jonathan Taumateine
10 Christian Leali'ifano
11 Ben Lam
12 Alai D'Angelo Leuila
13 Tumua Manu
14 Ed Fidow
15 Duncan Paia'aua
Replacements:
16 Sama Malolo
17 Jordan Lay
18 Michael Alaalatoa
19 Steven Luatua
20 Alamanda Motuga
21 Melani Matavao
22 Neria Fomai
23 Danny Toala
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Don’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
Go to commentsI’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.
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