Samoan Blue Jersey: Not Just for the Locals

Written by Charlina Tone
Thursday, 07 February 2008
The Head Coach of the Manu Samoa Tuala Lepale Niko Palamo confirmed after the selection of his Assistant Coaches that trials for the Manu Samoa are scheduled to begin soon. “Now that the coaching team has been finalized, it is now time for selection, there is already a program and by the end of this month, trials in Upolu and Savaii will begin,” says Tuala. He says that depending on the Samoa rugby Union final trials for the Manu Samoa will be in either April or May. “There will also be trials in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, and Sydney and Brisbane Australia, because we want to involve all Samoan boys. We are giving the chance to not just the locals but also Samoan boys from all over the world, that intend and have what it takes to play for the Manu.” Tuala adds that because these boys were fortunate to receive scholarships to improve their rugby careers overseas this should not prohibit them from achieving their goals of playing for their country. “a lot of the kids on scholarship were developed here, the chance will be given for the boys overseas to trial, but the focus will be on local players.” Tuala adds that strength and fitness are the two challenges they hope to overcome, and Assistant Coach Paepaetele Stan Toomalatai says that there is a lot of talent in Samoa, individually, that is lacking in team spirit. He adds that the Coaches responsibility is to help the team improve their discipline. Tuala adds that Samoans are very naturally talented when it comes to playing rugby but it needs to be developed at certain levels. “There is a lot of raw talent, that is present but not enough fitness, this is the challenge to the Management and Coaches to come up with plans to overcome these areas that need improvement.” He adds that it is not something that will just happen overnight, and it will take long to nurture the talent to the specified level. Tuala was also questioned about how he plans to prepare the team, incase the new rules of the game are introduced but Tuala maintains that it is not a problem. “A lot of the new rules are beneficiary such as the changes to the maul and the lineout, there are certain variations that we can use to give us the ball.” However Sua Peter Schuster says that the new rules for the game will not be effective until November and only if it has been approved by all international rugby bodies. “Samoa and other countries are still negotiating these new laws, and Samoa is warning them to be careful that they are not properly introduced and they must bee trialed first, there will be a meeting later to see whether the new rules should or should not be introduced.” Paepaetele was also asked about what he holds in store for coaching the Manu Samoa forwards. He says the Manu Samoa forward pack is good, but it is just the difference in how fast a players strength will form. The yet to be finalized team is expected to play its first game for the year in the Pacific Nations Cup. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 February 2008 )

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