“The players that we do have are the best players” – Manu Samoa coach Lemalu Tusiata Pisi
On the eve of their rugby Clash against Scotland, Manu Samoa’s coach backs the squad he’s selected for the international season despite what appears to be some key omissions.
Manu Samoa kick off their international campaign for 2025 this Friday at Eden Park when they take on Scotland.
The clash will also be their first match with newly appointed head coach and former Manu Samoa playmaker Lemalu Tusiata Pisi.
Last month Lemalu announced his 35 man squad for their international hit outs this year, which was met with a few questions by the public regarding some names missing from the squad.
The most notable absentee was Miracle Fai’ilagi who was a major standout for Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby Pacific season.
Lemalu did not comment directly on any reasons why players were not available for selection, but rather spoke about celebrating those who have been selected to represent Samoa.
“My thing is, the players that we do have are the best players. So for me, it’s celebrating those that have put their hand up, and they deserve to be here. So let’s celebrate that.
“And I guess whatever the questions the media or that have, they can ask that to those players that weren’t available.”
Since missing out on Manu Samoa duties, Fai’ilagi has gone on to join provincial union Hawkes Bay Magpies for this year’s Bunnings Warehouse NPC.
Having only been in his role as coach for a short time, Lemalu is confident that he and his coaching team can do their best work despite having limited time to prepare with the players.
Drawing on his own experience as a player himself, Lemalu says that the bonding within the team comes organically, through their Samoan culture.
“It’s a feeling of excitement and a bit of nerves. But it’s more so of excitement looking forward to bring players from all over the world to work as a team,” Lemalu says.
“It really is just what our theme is about, which is unity. So the quicker we can come together as a team, obviously our culture allows us to do that, organically. But now it’s just bringing things together that we implement on the field.”
Looking ahead to their match against Scotland, Lemalu is aware of the challenge and threat posed by the Six Nations side.
Scotland are coming off a loss to Fiji and a strong win over an experienced All Blacks Maori side.
“I think what we can control is our preparations. So we’re looking forward to preparing really well and putting on a good performance for our supporters”
“Scotland is a really good team, make no mistake about it. They’ve got some really great players coming through, and we’re unlucky in some results in the six nations but they’re coached really well by a player well respected in his day. So they’re well prepared”
Purchase your tickets for Fridays clash here.
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