Rugby Union in Samoa - History

History

The Marist Brothers brought the game to Samoa in 1920 and The Apia Rugby Union was formed in 1924.

On August 18, 1924 Western Samoa played its first international against Fiji in the capital Apia, the visitors winning 6-0.

The Pacific Tri-Nations series between Tonga, Fiji and Western Samoa was established in 1982.

The Western Samoa Rugby Football Union joined the International Rugby Board in 1988. Western Samoa played in the World Cup for the first time in 1991.

The Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) was set up in 2002 as a basis of co-operation between the Fiji Rugby Union, Samoa Rugby Union and Tonga Rugby Football Union.

In 2006, the Pacific Tri-Nations was replaced by the IRB Pacific 5 Nations which was then renamed the Pacific Nations Cup. The IRB Pacific Rugby Cup started in 2006 with Upolu Samoa and Savaii Samoa representing Samoa.

Rugby was first introduced into Samoa around the turn of the 20th century, when it was still a German colony. It is believed that the first people to introduce it there were missionaries from New Zealand.

For many years, Western Samoa's international contact was confined to the other South Sea islands of Fiji and Tonga. This is partly because of the isolation of the islands. Their first international was against Fiji, in 1924, and featured a palm tree in the middle of the pitch.

There was also a large amount of contact with New Zealand, where many Samoans would migrate to in the 20th century.

Samoa first came to major international attention in 1986, when they toured Wales. Their test against the Welsh national side produced a result of 32-14. This was also seen as a major turning point as previously there had been a debate as to whether to have an international team at all, as many players had traditionally defected to New Zealand. Samoa rugby's relationship with New Zealand rugby has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand it has allowed Samoa to recruit amongst the massive pool of first and second generation Samoan migrants in New Zealand, but conversely it also meant that for many Samoans, their highest ambition was to win a cap in the All Blacks. Notable Samoan-New Zealander players include Michael Jones and Peter Schuster.

Controversially Samoa was not invited to the first World Cup - although Tonga and Fiji were. This led to a massive campaign to build up a side good enough to qualify for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. They selected Bryan Williams, who had been a winger for the All Blacks to be their coach, and using a mixture of home grown backs such as Brian Lima and Matthew Vaea, and no nonsense New Zealand based forwards such as Mark Birtwhistle, Pat Lam Matt Keenan, and Peter Fatialofa, he wielded a disparate group of talented individuals into a side which quickly came to dominate Fiji and Tonga and gain access to the world cup.

Samoa's performance at the 1991 Rugby World Cup was superb, and proved that they were an international force to be reckoned with. After beating Wales in the first game in Cardiff, they beat Argentina. In a nail bitingly close finish, they were beaten 9-3 by Australia, who would later win the tournament. However, they were beaten 28-6 by Scotland.