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Who's got the worst union in World Rugby? Part 1 - Samoa

The Samoan PM, who moonlights as Chairman of the SRU

OPINION: It is no surprise that on-field success in rugby is in large part driven by the performance of the governing body and structures behind the national team.

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The RFU has been showering its profits across the nation as England look more and more like favourites for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. New Zealand Rugby are wishing the Lions could tour more than once every twelve years, while its team continues an impressive streak at the top of the World Rugby rankings.

But it’s not all rosy in rugby right now. Bankruptcy, mismanagement, race issues and the structure of the game itself have created turmoil in some of rugby’s most storied outposts, to the point where the future of the game in those countries is genuinely in doubt.

In this series, we will examine three of World Rugby’s governance under-achievers and ask you, the fan, which one should henceforth be labelled “World’s Worst Rugby Union”.

Part One: Western Samoa

Samoa, ever the Rugby World Cup darlings, have been rocked in the past week by the announcement that the Samoa Rugby Union (SRU) is bankrupt. To the outsider, this was probably inevitable: a tiny island nation with limited resources and money, where the best talent gets swiped at an early age by wealthier pacific neighbours and international private schools. But to those with experience on the ground in Samoa, the story is one more of corruption and mismanagement where the winners, allegedly, are union officials (most notably, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegao, who moonlights as the Chairman of the SRU), and the losers are players, their families and the fans of the game.

ALSO READ: Samoan Rugby Union disrespects the players and the game – Scotty Stevenson | Scotland edge Samoa in thriller Samoa Union declared bankrupt | RugbyPass Live Match Centre: Samoa v Scotland

According to AFP, “A report penned by former national captain Mahonri Schwalger after the 2011 World Cup accused management of being unprofessional and treating the tournament like a holiday”,  while in 2014 the team threatened a boycott ahead of its clash against England due to claims of poor treatment by management and lack of financial openness, claims that were dismissed by Malielegao as the “opinions of little kids”.

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Similar claims have been made as recently as June 2017 by the parents of Ethan Lolesio, whose stint at the SRU’s somewhat ironically-named High Performance Unit, left him without basic amenities and a complete lack of management support, to the point where untreated medical issues rendered him unfit for the Under 20s World Cup in Georgia.  Couple this with the SRU’s open defiance of World Rugby, its primary benefactor, over coaching selections and player insurance, the future looks shaky at best.

Despite all this, the Samoans have had a reprieve today as passionate islanders, a benevolent Chinese construction firm (!?) and a seemingly begrudging RFU doled out funds to ensure the Autumn Internationals would proceed. But questions still exist as to the long-term viability of the SRU under its current governance structure and we should all expect to see more Tuilagis and Vunipolas running out in white, black or gold instead of the proud royal blue of Manu Samoa.

Rugby fans in Asia can watch every game from the 2017 Autumn Internationals series, including Samoa v Scotland and Samoa v England, LIVE and ON-DEMAND on RugbyPass.com, the official live streaming provider of rugby in Asia.

Other Useful Links: 

Rugby Internationals Latest News | International Rugby Teams: Samoa Scotland England All Blacks Wallabies | Rugby Latest Videos | RugbyPass Official Live Streaming Rugby | About RugbyPass | Latest Rugby News | RugbyOnslaught.com | RugbyDump.com | Rugby365.com | TheRugbyPod.com

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EllenMoody 4 hours ago
Great moments in Lions tour history – JPR’s drop goal and the All Blacks' brutal revenge

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JWH 5 hours ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Do you hear yourself? Do you have any concept of world view? Have you tried looking into why people call Ireland ‘arrogant’? Obviously not.


We started calling you arrogant when you called our captain a ‘shit Richie McCaw’. In New Zealand. On our turf. Don’t think that kind of behaviour really calls for respect, does it.


NZ don’t really talk ourselves up, if anything the rugby does it for us. No kiwi goes in the media and says: ‘We are gonna win the RWC’. However, I have found many instance of IRISH media saying that the Irish should win, without a doubt. THAT is disrespectful.


The All Blacks have played good rugby, even some of the best rugby ever, at many points in history, but I don’t think you could find a single instance of one of those players, or the NZ media, saying that they should whitewash their opponents. Ever.


Now, onto your analysis. Ireland DID choke the QF. They beat the champions, they were ranked first coming into it, a lot of players at the peaks of their powers. Its hard to say that they didn’t choke. Obviously, their preparation was just not as good as NZ, and thats all there really is to it.


If Ireland had repsected that ABs team and that QF more, maybe they would’ve prepared properly for it and won. But they didn’t.


Maybe if Ireland had won their QF last RWC, they wouldn’t have to be in the same pool as SA and Scotland. I mean, its called a draw for a reason. NZ got third last RWC, so of course they should get a reasonable pool, and they were ranked pretty highly too. If you want to talk about easy pools, look no further than Pool 3 with England, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia I think?


Now, obviously you don’t remember how that QF ended, so I’ll go ahead and rectify that. Ireland reclaimed the ball off kickoff and marched for 20ish phases into the opposition half. Savea then won a turnover, but the referee refused to give it, so play went on. Finally, at the NZ 22, after not giving up a single penatly in 25 phases of hard defense, Sam Whitelock, the most capped All Black of all time, wins the game with an incredible steal.


Now, NZ players having a go at Ireland. Do you cry when you get hit after making the first swing? We all know Sexton is a prick on the field, its just the truth. And Ioane never backs down from a clash, so he thought he should humble a player who has never won an international knockout game who thought he was all that. Don’t really see the issue, its poetic justice really.

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