Twickenham Baa Baas solution sought as Samoa cancel Autumn tour
Samoa’s scheduled autumn tour has been cancelled due to Governmental health and travel advice relating to COVID-19.
This means their visit to Georgia on November 6 plus subsequent games with Uruguay and Spain will not take place.
However, although the full Samoan national team will not face the Barbarians at Twickenham, it seems likely that “a Manu Samoa selection” will instead take the field.
This November 27 clash will, according to the Lakapi Samoa press release, “involve Europe-based players and coaches.”
Sources suggest that upwards of 30,000 tickets are already sold for this game in which Australian star Quade Cooper plus Springboks Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx and Duane Vermeulen plus the Pumas’ Pablo Matera are reported to be appearing for the Baa Baas.
Lakapi Samoa CEO Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai said the Board was left with little option.
"Lakapi Samoa was not able to guarantee the safety of any of our players and management whilst on campaign and the current State of Emergency measures by the Government restricts the return of anyone within six months of contacting the virus," he said.
"This was a major obstacle to keep our borders safe. We do accept the implications and scale of consequences the pandemic can have to our small country with limited resources."
Head coach Seilala Mapusua said health considerations had to come first.
"It's disappointing and really tough for our players, fans and our hosting Unions," he said.
"As head coach, our performance and reputation to our brand is severely hampered if we cannot get our team together.
However, the safety and well-being of protecting Samoa from the current Covid-19 variant pandemic was ultimately the right call."
Samoa defeated Tonga in July to secure their spot in the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The Samoan Sevens team has also pulled out of the upcoming World Rugby Sevens Series legs in Dubai.
They last competed at the Olympic Qualifying tournament in June and had already opted to skip the recent World Series tournaments in Vancouver and Edmonton because of the pandemic.
Latest Comments
Agree with Wilson B- at best. And that is down to skilled individual players who know how to play the game - not a cohesive squad who know their roles and game plan. For those who claim that takes time to develop, the process is to keep the game plan simple at first and add layers as the squad gels and settles in to the new systems. Lack of progress against the rush D, lack of penetration and innovation in the mid-field, basic skill errors and loose forwards coming second in most big games all still evident in game 14 of the season. Hard to see significant measureable progress.
Go to commentsKeep telling yourself that. The time for a fresh broom is at the beginning - not some "balanced, incremental" (i.e. status quo) transition. All teams establish the way forward at the beginning. This coaching group lacked ideas and courage and the players showed it on the pitch. Backs are only average. Forwards are unbalanced and show good set piece but no domination in traditional AB open play. Unfortunately, Foster - Mark 2. You may be happy with those performances and have some belief in some "cunning plan" but I don't see any evidence of it. Rassie is miles ahead and increasing the gap.
Go to comments