The Leali'ifano verdict on Samoa ahead of final match versus England

Christian Leali'ifano has delivered a message for England ahead of next weekend’s Pool D finale in Lille. Defeat for Samoa on Thursday night left the English progressing to the quarter-finals as group winners with a match to spare, but that doesn’t mean the Stade Mauroy fixture on October 7 is a dead rubber.

While Japan and Argentina set to face off in a battle in Nantes the next day to decide who progresses to the knockouts as the pool’s runner-up, the Pacific Islanders still have a chance of finishing third which would qualify them automatically for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

That’s a prize worth getting stuck into England for. “Absolutely,” enthused Leali'ifano to RugbyPass as he moved through the post-game mixed zone in Toulouse.

“Anything can happen in a World Cup and it’s just to give ourselves a chance more on finishing on our terms and putting in a performance that we can continue to be proud of.

“It’s a really important game. We’ll review this one hard because we want to improve and prepare as best we can for a really tough game next week.”

While two defeats in three outings at France 2023 is a disappointment for Samoa who were hoping to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1995, the last three and a bit months together under Seilala Mapusua have been a wonderful opportunity to lay the foundation for long term progress.

“We have spoken about the growth in our team, a lot of our young guys getting exposure at this level are really growing and understanding what it takes to be able to play at the standard that is required and Samoa is in a really good space,” enthused the 36-year-old Leali'ifano, who represented Australia at the 2019 finals in Japan before changing Test team allegiance.

“Obviously, results are pretty disappointing but we have got amazing management and coaching, some nice senior players that are really stepping up and driving the standard of Samoan rugby. Like we are seeing with the (other) Pacific Islanders, we are hoping to go from strength to strength and continue to improve.”

More matches against tier-one nations in the next four-year cycle in between World Cups would be a major help.

“Exactly, those are things that we want to continue to push for, exposure to the tier one nations and the higher quality games to be able to help us grow and continue to strengthen the game around the world.

"If we can get a few more big Test matches in between these World Cup cycles it would definitely help smaller nations improve as we have seen so far.”

Even though it was close to one in the morning and Leali'ifano was the final player from either Samoa or Japan to come through the mixed zone, he represented his sport well and he finished by paying tribute to Japanese rugby fans for their support of him, a former Top League player before linking up these past two years with Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby Pacific.

“Thank you very much for the support,” he said when asked by a large Japanese media pack if he had a message for them. “Japanese supporters are the best in the world, so respectful and loving. It’s nice to play in front of the Japanese, the level of respect and love is always great. Thank you.”