Whilst the 92-3 defeat to England was by no means a flattering score-line for Samoa, Mataafa Ramsey Tomokino’s side left Franklin’s Gardens with their heads held high this past Saturday. The ‘Manusina’ left it all on the line in the 14-try defeat to the world’s number one nation, as Samoa’s team of amateur players brought their Pacific Island pride to the Women’s Rugby World Cup stage.
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The post-match display in Northampton was one of the most unique celebrations of togetherness, that the global rugby landscape had witnessed for a long time. Samoa’s deep blue colours bound up with England’s white jerseys, to form a dual-squad huddle in the centre of the pitch.
The Samoa players harmonised in song, before breaking out and dancing arm in arm with the honoured Red Roses. At the heart of the festivities was England back row Maddie Feaunati, who’s Samoan heritage was celebrated in a beautiful display of unity across unions.
Once the songs had been sung, Samoa head coach Mataafa (Chief title) Ramsey Tomokino was joined in the press room by his captain Sui Pauaraisa. What followed was far from the conventional post-match reaction, as there was barely a dry eye in the building as the Samoan coach and captain spoke from the heart to the breathless reporters. The journalists in attendance gave Tomokino, Pauaraisa and the Samoan backroom staff a resounding round of applause after the press conference, with hopes high to see Samoa back on the world’s stage before too long.
“We don’t get to do what we’re doing” – Samoa’s boundless gratitude for Rugby World Cup involvement as women’s game needs to grow in the Pacific Islands.
MATAAFA RAMSEY TOMOKINO: “First and foremost, I do want to thank England. Thank the supporters. Our girls have worked really hard to be here, to walk off the bus and be applauded as the team walked in, our girls deserve that so much. That made me a little bit emotional seeing that, because we never had that. We’ve never had the opportunity to play in the stadiums, of 13 – 14,000 fans, like last week as well.
“That contributes to where we’re at. If you look at the pictures of what we’ve had this year, we probably played in front of not many people. We didn’t play enough games [before 2025 RWC] and we knew that. But, we just want to thank the England crowd, thank this World Cup for allowing us to be here and thank some of you reporters in this room, that are writing the stories about is belonging. Because, we bring our culture, we carry our families.
“It’s been a fantastic World Cup in that regard. I don’t want to take away from the girls. We know the result was up there. We had a goal to keep it under last weeks score [73-0 vs Australia], but if they get to 90 [points] that would be ok. There was a worry that the score could get to triple figures, I know people have been talking about that, and whether that is good for the game or not. But, what’s good for the game is that we’re here and we can get better as opportunities happen.
“I’ll be moving into a space, a high performance role, where my role will be to oversee more rugby. It certainly would have been my goal to build us up, to make sure we have these fixtures to push the professional opportunities. Lobby World Rugby, they give us great support, but we probably need more backing and more opportunities. I’m sure if we weren’t so far from England, I’m sure the PWR would be inviting us to come and play in that as well!
“I want to thank all of you here. To be sitting in a press conference with so many people, it doesn’t happen to us. We don’t get to play in these stadiums, we don’t get to do what we’re doing. I think I just have to commend that, World Cups in the northern hemisphere are done very, very well. We just want to thank you, thank everyone for the opportunity to be here and to speak.”
After a relentless first half of attacking dominance saw the Red Roses establish a seven-try lead over Samoa, it would have been understandable for the Pacific Islanders to cupitulate and collapse upon returning to the pitch at Franklin’s Gardens. However, the first 10 minutes of the second half stunned everyone, none more so than the England players who back-peddled against the new-found fire of the Samoan pack, and slick strike moves of the back-line.
The atmosphere in Northampton hit a fever-pitch when Samoa won a scrum penalty, and fly half Harmony Vatau stepped up to the tee. It may have been a consolation score against the number one ranked women’s side in the world, by the successful kick at goal marked Samoa’s first points at the Women’s Rugby World Cup since the 2014 tournament in France. Despite the deficit upon the score-board, the Samoa players were jubliant in celebration, with skipper Sui Pauaraisa at the heart of the joy.
“A proud moment for us” – Samoa’s iconic celebrations after scoring points against the elite of England
SUI PAURAISA: “I think they didn’t expect me to go for it [penalty], but, it was right in front of the post. So I looked at her, Harms [Harmony Vatau] is like a pretty shy, wee player, and I looked at her, and I said, ‘you got this’, and she said ‘yes’, so she was confident with it.
“I think the sideline didn’t realise that the time was running, we were like, ‘Get the tee, get the tee!’ The feeling [for the decision] was, just to get the points, if we had more penalties right in front of the post, I would have gone for the same thing. We wanted to get some points on instead of coming off with a zero like last week. So a proud moment for us. I know the score doesn’t really reflect how we play as a team, but, we never gave up our game up. gamer. I’m just proud of our girls.”
MATAAFA RAMSEY TOMOKINO: “We weren’t happy with getting a zero last week. And we talked about, you know, taking points when the opportunity presented. I wasn’t expecting them to take the shot at goal the, but they did. And, you know, just to see the jubilation on the faces of Harmony and the girls and you know, was really heart-warming. Just as a coach, to sit there and just admire and smile and be proud of the girls for achieving that.
“Obviously, we also see the goal of trying to cross the line, we’ve met England three times, and the best we’ve ever come is penalties. So that was a goal as well, trying to cross the line, and we were close a couple of times. But you know, we’ll meet England again at some stage in the future, and hopefully, you know, we’ll reset that goal again.”
With qualification impossible for the knock-out stages, Samoa close out their Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign this weekend against the United States. York’s Community Stadium will provide the back-drop in sending off a side which many World Cup fans have adopted as their ‘second team’. Manusina have certainly been embraced in their history making journey to their Women’s Rugby World Cup, with only onwards and upwards expected for the Pacific Island nation.
Looking to the future, Samoa head coach Ramsey Tomokino expressed how he wants to see his players involved in the professional leagues before too long. This would require the backing of World Rugby to take Samoan Women’s rugby to the next level, as Tomokino hopes to have his players running out in the Super Rugby Women’s competitions across New Zealand and Australia before too long.
“We can only hope that from this World Cup, the women’s game will grow and get better.” – Samoa’s goals for a bright future
MATAAFA RAMSEY TOMOKINO: “We’ve been longing to be part of a professional competition for some time. We have [Super Rugby] Aupiki in New Zealand that we could be a part of, we also have the Super W [in Australia] which Fijiana are apart of. Look, I know that if we get given the same opportunities, that we would be a far stronger team. We can only hope that from this World Cup, that the women’s game will grow and get better, and more professional opportunties will happen.
“I long for the day where the competition for women is like the men’s. Where it is professional, where they have the opportunities to go play overseas. [To be] like the men’s team, we have players playing all over the place and they come together, back to the national rugby. The sooner we can get that in place, the better.”
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