Manu Samoa: The Dream Revived

By Loveni Enari

Is it time to start dreaming once more?

Just like in 1991, 1995 and 1999, those being the last golden years of Manu Samoa rugby when they successfully navigated the pool stages and made the quarter finals of a World Cup.

The boys in royal blue were millimetres away from beating Ireland, the world number one last Saturday and, according to team manager Faautu Talapusi, it may be a sign of better things to come.

'The team was absolutely heartbroken and you could see they absolutely believed they could beat Ireland but they fell short,' said Talapusi from their current base in Perpignan.

'The win was there for the taking.' 

So near, yet so far ... just what the doctor ordered ... just not good enough ... an inch is as good as a mile ... plenty to be pleased about ... stands us in good stead for the tournament ... still at the experimental stage ... 

Choose your cliche or simply all of the above to describe Manu Samoa's if-only moment when they so nearly achieved their most historic win, one lost lineout away from victory in the dying minutes.

A loss to the Emerald Isle had been expected, a thrashing even - look at in dollars and sense, training time together, high technology, science - so much for Ireland, and Tier One nations everywhere, so little for Samoa and Tier Two beggar nations in the world rugby hierarchy.

The same old song we all know, ad nauseum and yet, once again, our brave players bucked the odds and chucked out the expected logic with a performance full of pride, skill, intelligence and no little heart.

'We’ve shown we’re not at the World Cup to make up the numbers,' said Talapusi.

'Our eyes are on the prize.'

The manager, who is the only female with the team, and the only female manager at the World Cup, said morale among the group remained high despite the loss, the difficult travel and the fact they had now already spent seven weeks together.

Players had doubted they would be able to last so much time away from their young families yet were being proved wrong.

'The other day a veteran said it was the best ever trip he'd been on with the team.'

This despite an early rise, loading of the bus and seven hour trip across the south of France to where a training session with Portugal awaits on Friday.

Talapusi said the Samoan players took inspiration from Fiji's monumental win over England at the home of rugby.

'A lot of them watched the game and were pretty stoked to see our Pacific brothers doing it and they went into their game with the belief they could do the same.'

With just over two weeks left before the start of the World Cup and their first match versus Chile, the team seems to be clicking at just the right moment.

The recent problems at fullback may have been solved while, for once, it looks like our scrum is becoming a powerful weapon. If that becomes a reality it will transform the forward pack into potential world-beaters because their lineout is already world class and so are their loose forwards.

It's just our attack that needs some polishing. If that happens, watch out!

Last word to Talapusi and it's a promising one: 'We’ve improved massively since our first matches but we've still got a long way to bring it home.'

'They showed what they’re capable of and maybe it’s a glimpse of what’s to come.'

Dare we dream the dream once again? The right ingredients are there. Our pool opponents, England and Japan, are suffering wobbles in their preparation while our boys seem to be timing their run up perfectly.

The referees are finally also looking  more neutral in their approach. (Fingers crossed and plenty of prayers definitely still needed there however).

Our tight five, for so long our Achilles heel, is now looking powerful.

Say it quietly but yes, say it, the dream has officially begun. 

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