Samoa national rugby union team (sevens)

Samoa Sevens

Union	Samoa Rugby Football Union
Coach(es)	Stephen Betham
Captain(s)	Lolo Lui
Top scorer	Uale Mai 1174
Most tries	Mikaele Pesamino 151
Team kit
First international
1993 Hong Kong Sevens.
World Cup Sevens
Appearances	4 (First in 1993)
Best result	2010

The Samoa national rugby union team represent Samoa internationally in rugby sevens, a competitive sports tournament titled the IRB Sevens World Series which takes place annually in seven countries; United Arab Emirates, South Africa, New Zealand, United States, Hong Kong, Australia, England and Scotland.

Referred to as the Samoa Sevens or Manu Samoa 7s, they are the champions of the 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series following a 15-12 victory against England in the semi-finals at the 2010 Edinburgh Sevens on 30 May. The semi-finals win at Murrayfield Stadium gave the team enough points to win the sevens world series for the first time in history. Samoa Sevens went on to the finals to beat Australia and crowned winners of the 2010 Edinburgh Sevens.

The historic victory follows three consecutive tournament wins in the world series, the Hong Kong Sevens, the USA Sevens and the Adelaide Sevens.

Representing the tiny Polynesian country of Samoa with a population of about 180,000 the Samoa Sevens is one of the smallest nations in the international series, competing against some of the wealthiest and high tech countries in the world.

The team includes several of the highest points and try scorers in series history, Uale Mai and Mikaele Pesamino. Pesamino was also named the 2010 IRB International Sevens Player of the Year, an honour which Uale Mai, a former team captain and one of the most capped players in the sport, had won in 2006. Captain Lolo Lui and teammate Alafoti Fa'osiliva had also been nominated.

Rugby union in Samoa is governed by the Samoa Rugby Football Union which oversees the Samoa Sevens team and the 15-player Manu Samoa national team.

History

Uganda v Samoa (20 March 2006)

In 2007, the team won both the Wellington Sevens and Hong Kong Sevens. Another past victory was the Hong Kong Sevens in 1993. In 2009, the team made the finals in the Dubai Sevens but lost to the New Zealand team.

While long a solidly competitive side, the Samoa Sevens emerged as true world contenders in the 2006-07 Sevens World Series, finishing third overall while winning two events. This new team has reached the final four times in a row, playing against series favourite Fiji.

Coaches

The current coach is Stephen Betham. Past coaches have included Lilomaiava Taufusi Salesa who trained the 1993 Hong Kong Sevens winning team. Other notable coaches who have led Samoa to sevens prominence were head coach Fuimaono Titimaea "Dicky" Tafua and his assistant Galumalemana Rudolph Moors. In the 2005 - 2006 IRB Sevens Circuit they managed to qualify to two finals (London and Paris) but failed to win any. The Samoa Sevens lost to South Africa in London and island rivals Fiji at Paris.

Fuimaono resigned from coaching in 2007 to his new post as Secretary to Samoa's Head of State, Tupua Tamasese Tufuga Efi. He would later return to coaching in 2009 as head coach of the 15s national team. Galumalemana took over as coach and after a disappointing team performance in the 2008–09 series was temporarily replaced by Lilomaiava Taufusi Salesa for the final two legs of the series. Stephen Betham was named as Galumalemana successor in 2009.

Current squad

Samoa sevens team, 2009

Australia Leg - 2011-2012 IRB Series

• Levi Asifa'amatala
• Simaika Mikaele
• Faalemiga Selesele
• Afa Aiono
• Talaga Alofipo
• Uale Mai
• Lolo Lui
• Tom Iosefo
• Alatasi Tupou
• Taulagi Afamasaga
• Robert Lilomaiava
• Paul Perez

Win summaries

Event	Venue	Cup			Plate	Bowl	Shield
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Winner	Winner
2010 Edinburgh Sevens	Murrayfield Stadium	Samoa	41 - 14	Australia	Scotland	Wales	Russia
2010 Hong Kong Sevens	Hong Kong Stadium	Samoa	24 - 21	New Zealand	Australia	Canada	Hong Kong
2010 Adelaide Sevens	Adelaide Oval	Samoa	38 - 10	United States	New Zealand	England	Japan
2010 USA Sevens	Sam Boyd Stadium	Samoa	33 - 12	New Zealand	South Africa	United States	Scotland
2008 London Sevens	Westpac Stadium	Samoa	19 - 14	Fiji	New Zealand	Australia	Spain
2007 Hong Kong Sevens	Hong Kong Stadium	Samoa	27 - 22	Fiji	Wales	Russia
2007 Wellington Sevens	Westpac Stadium	Samoa	14 - 7	Fiji	England	Tonga	Portugal
1993 Hong Kong Sevens	Government Stadium	Western Samoa	14 - 12	Fiji	Tonga	Romania

In July 1997, the Government of Samoa amended its constitution to change the country's name from Western Samoa to Samoa.

2009-10 IRB Sevens World Series

Itinerary

The series' tournaments are identical to those in 2008–09 and span the globe, visiting five of the six populated continents.

The itinerary for the 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series;

2009–10 Itinerary
Leg	Venue	Date	Winner
Dubai	The Sevens	4–5 December 2009	New Zealand
South Africa	Outeniqua Park, George	11–12 December 2009	New Zealand
New Zealand	Westpac Stadium, Wellington	5–6 February 2010	Fiji
United States	Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas	13–14 February 2010	Samoa
Australia	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	19–21 March 2010	Samoa
Hong Kong	Hong Kong Stadium	26–28 March 2010	Samoa
London	Twickenham	22–23 May 2010	Australia
Edinburgh	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	29–30 May 2010	Samoa

Overall Standings

2009–10 Standings
Pos.	Country	Dubai	South Africa (George)	New Zealand (Wellington)	USA (Las Vegas)	Australia (Adelaide)	Hong Kong	England (London)	Scotland (Edinburgh)	Overall
1	Samoa	20	6	20	24	24	30	16	24	164
2	New Zealand	24	24	16	20	12	25	12	16	149
3	Australia	12	6	12	16	16	16	24	20	122
4	Fiji	16	20	24	8	6	20	8	6	108
5	England	16	12	16	6	4	20	6	16	96
6	South Africa	8	8	8	12	8	10	20	6	80
7	Argentina	6	16	0	0	16	0	16	8	62
8	Kenya	6	16	6	16	0	8	0	0	52
9	Wales	4	4	4	6	6	0	6	4	34
10	United States	0	0	0	4	20	8	0	0	32
11	Canada	DNP	DNP	6	0	DNP	5	4	0	15
12	Scotland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	12

Former players

Crowd cheering at the Hong Kong Sevens, 2009.

Anitelea Aiolupo Alapasa Cordtz Samu Eteuati Lome Fa'atau Fa'atonu Fili Alama Ieremia Timoteo Iousa Malaki Iupeli Daniel Kaleopa Lolani Koko Brian Lima Kiri Mariner Luke Mealamu

Junior Paramore Happyvelly Patu Kevin Senio Mikaele Senio Afato So'oalo Steven So'oialo Mark Tanuvasa Filipo Toala Aleki Toleafoa Leamy Toleafoa Ofisa Tonu'u Jnr Alesana Tuilagi Sila Vaifale Alefaio Vaisuai

Other statistics

Year	Host		Cup Final				Plate Final
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		Winner	Score	Runner-up
2009 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		New Zealand	24-12	Samoa		Australia	7-0	South Africa
2008 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		South Africa	19-12	England		Samoa	12-7	Kenya
2007 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		New Zealand	31-21	Fiji		Argentina	15-14	Samoa
2004 Details	Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground		England	26 - 21	Fiji		Samoa	21 - 19	Argentina

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2010 Details	Westpac Stadium	Fiji	19-14	Samoa	Australia	26-22	South Africa
2008 Details	Westpac Stadium	New Zealand	22-7	Samoa	South Africa	19-12	Wales

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007 Details	San Diego, California	Fiji	38 - 24	Samoa	South Africa	28 - 19	Scotland
2005 Details	Carson, California	New Zealand	34 - 5	Argentina	Fiji	24 - 21	Samoa

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007 Details	Outeniqua Park	New Zealand	33-9	Fiji	South Africa	12-7	Samoa
2005 Details	Outeniqua Park	Fiji	21 - 19	Argentina	Samoa	17 - 5	New Zealand

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007 Details	Adelaide Oval	Fiji	21-7	Samoa	Australia	31-0	South Africa

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2007 Details	Murrayfield	New Zealand	34-5	Samoa	Fiji	31-7	Kenya

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2006 Details	Stade Jean-Bouin	South Africa	33-12	Samoa	Fiji	31-12	Argentina

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2006 Details	National Stadium, Singapore	Fiji	40-21	England	Samoa	26-5	France

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
2006 Details	Twickenham	Fiji	54-14	Samoa	South Africa	42-7	Kenya

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate	Bowl
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Winner
1998 Details	Hong Kong Stadium	Fiji	28-19	Samoa	South Korea	Morocco

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Final Score	Runner-up
1979 Details	HK Football Club Stadium	Australia	39-3	Samoa	Papua New Guinea	13-10	Hawaii

See also

• Samoa national rugby union team
• Rugby union in Samoa

External links

• Official Samoa Rugby Union website
• Samoa Sevens on facebook
• Manu Samoa Supporters Website

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