Mapusua faces uncertain future as Samoa start new coach search

Lakapi Samoa have advertised for a new Manu Samoa head coach, leaving the future of Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua uncertain. The decision is believed to be based on results at Rugby World Cup 2023 and has been met with some surprise.

Manu Samoa finished second-from-bottom in the Pool D standings in France with a 43-10 win over Chile their only victory of the campaign.

With the presence of former All Blacks such as Lima Sopoaga and Steven Luatua in their squad, the union felt Manu Samoa had underperformed.

Handre Pollard on that winning mindset in the big moments – Big Jim Show | RPTV

Video Player is loading.

Play Video

PauseSkip BackwardSkip Forward

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 1:15

Loaded: 0%

0:00

Stream Type LIVE

Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE

Remaining Time -1:15

 

1x

Playback Rate

Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Audio Track

• en (Main), selected

Fullscreen

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text

ColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-Transparent

Text Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent

Caption Area Background

ColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanOpacityTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque

Font Size

50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%

Text Edge Style

NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop shadow

Font Family

Proportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps

ResetDone

Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

Handre Pollard on that winning mindset in the big moments – Big Jim Show | RPTV

Jim Hamilton met up with Handre Pollard to discuss the Rugby World Cup and amongst other things, having nerves of steel. Watch now on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

However, their biggest margin of defeat against teams higher than them in the World Rugby men’s rankings was just nine points. The games against Argentina (10-19), Japan (22-28) and England (17-18) could have easily fallen the other way.

Mapusua, who won 41 caps as a player for Manu Samoa, is undecided at the moment about whether to apply for his own job, which was advertised on Facebook on Monday.

When contacted by RugbyPass, Seilala pointed out he was “contracted until the end of 2024 and working still on the programme for this year”.

Mapusua was appointed as Manu Samoa’s head coach in August 2020 and had to wait 10 months before taking charge of his first game because of the pandemic.

The former London Irish centre, who is 44 next week, won eight of his first 11 Tests in charge leading up to the World Cup and felt progress was being made.

However, Mapusua will be the first to acknowledge that Test rugby is a results-driven business and the union are eager to usher in change before the new-look World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup gets underway in August.

In terms of candidates to replace him, Samoan legend Pat Lam would be a real fans’ favourite. But the former back row forward is on a lucrative, long-term contract at Bristol Bears that runs until the end of the 2027/28 season.

Manu Samoa’s schedule for 2024 has not yet been announced but what is known is that they will face Fiji and Tonga in Pool A at the Pacific Nations Cup. Japan, USA and Canada, meanwhile, will play against each other on a round-robin basis in Pool B.

All six teams will be involved in a final series in Japan this summer and in the USA in 2025 where the annual champions will be confirmed.