Samoa national rugby union team

The Samoa national rugby union team represents Samoa in men's international rugby union competitions. They are governed by Samoa Rugby Union and also known as "Manu Samoa", which is thought to derive from the name of a Samoan warrior. They perform a traditional Samoan challenge called the siva tau before each game. Samoa Rugby Union were formerly members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance along with Fiji and Tonga.
Rugby was introduced to Samoa in the 1890s but a governing body was not formed for some years, and neither was a club competition organised until after World War I. The first international was played as Western Samoa against Fiji in August 1924. Along with Tonga, these nations would meet regularly and eventually contest competitions such as the Pacific Tri-Nations – with Western Samoa winning the first of these. From 1924 to 1997 Samoa was known as Western Samoa.
Samoa have been to every Rugby World Cup since the 1991 tournament. That tournament, along with the 1995 competition, saw them make the quarterfinals. Under their new coach, former New Zealand and Samoan international player Michael Jones, Samoa competed in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. However, Samoa had a dismal World Cup campaign, winning only one match and finishing fourth in their group. Samoa showed an improved performance at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, winning two matches by comfortable margins, and losing close matches to South Africa and Wales.

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History

The history of Samoan rugby is filled with provably untrue myths and legends. Among them are that the Marist Brothers brought rugby to Western Samoa in 1924 and The Western Samoa Rugby Football Union was formed in 1924. Another is that a large tree was growing in the middle of the Apia Park pitch when Samoa played its first test in 1924.
The man who brought rugby to Samoa was a New Zealand surveyor, Norman Macdonald, who arrived in the country in 1892. He organised games on an ad-hoc basis, often against crews from visiting ships. Native Samoans were encouraged to play right from the start, and did so. During the German colonial era these games still happened on an irregular basis, but the arrival of New Zealand troops in the early stages of World War I meant rugby wasn't far behind.
The first match for which a score has been preserved was played in 1918 between the Garrison and a Home XV, which the soldiers won 13-6. Club rugby began in 1923 when four clubs - Barbarians, Nomads, Rovers and United - contested the first championship. Matches were played at Pilot Point, and that ground did have a tree inside the playing area; the newspaper reports often mentioned it. By the end of that season developemnt work was beginning at Apia Park; the ground was levelled and a football pitch was prepared, cleared of all weeds and made up to international size.
On 18 August 1924, Western Samoa played its first international against Fiji in the capital Apia, the visitors winning 6–0. The match was played at 7am to allow the Samoans time to get to work afterwards and the ship taking the Fijian team to Tonga to make its sailing time. The return match, a month later, was won 9–3 by Samoa.
The Apia Rugby Union was formed in 1927, with eight clubs, and affiliated to the New Zealand Rugby Union that year. The Western Samoa Rugby Union wasn't formed as the governing body until 1958.
Club rugby changed formats in 1936, becoming a mercantile competition with business house teams replacing the village sides. This carried on until 1940, when the game closed down during World War II. It was resumed in 1946 and had another brief hiatus until a full club competition was played in 1953; this has run uninterrupted since.
In 1956 Western Samoa visited both Pacific Island neighbors Fiji and Tonga, but had to wait a further 20 years before a tour of New Zealand took place. The Samoans won one of eight matches on that 1956 tour.
The traditional tri-series between Tonga, Fiji and Western Samoa was established in 1982 with Western Samoa winning the first tournament. Wales visited Western Samoa and won the test 32–16 at Apia. The tour led to a return visit to Wales which brought Western Samoa out of International limbo, although Western Samoa were not invited to the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.
The following year a 14-match tour of Europe took place before a World Cup elimination series in Tokyo, which gave Western Samoa a place in the 1991 Rugby World Cup in Britain. They made a huge impact. After sweeping aside Wales 16–13 in Cardiff and defeating Argentina 35–12, and narrowly losing 3–9 to eventual champions Australia in their pool match, Western Samoa, a country with a population of 160,000, found itself in the quarterfinals against Scotland at Murrayfield. The Scots won comfortably 28–6, but the Samoans were clearly the personality team of the tournament. One Welsh fan ruefully remarked after Wales's defeat, "It's a good job we weren't playing all of Samoa."
Over the next two years, the side had a number of notable wins. The most outstanding achievements were in Sevens where it won the 1993 Hong Kong and 1992 Middlesex Sevens. The 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa proved that the team belonged in top company. They again reached the quarterfinals after wins over Argentina and Italy, but were beaten 42–14 by the eventual winners South Africa. After the Cup, Manu Samoa made a 13-match tour of England and Scotland, drawing 15–15 with the Scots and going down 27–9 to England.
With the advent of professional rugby in 1995 it was vital for Manu Samoa to develop a new administrative structure. This was made possible with Fay Richwhite and the Western Samoan Rugby Union joining forces to form Manu Samoa Rugby Limited. Fay Richwhite invested $5 million from 1995 to 2004 into Samoan rugby.
Samoa emerged from the 1999 World Cup with its honor intact after another shock 38–31 victory over host nation Wales in the pool stages. They again lost out to Scotland in the quarterfinal play-off.
Manu Samoa qualified for the 2003 World Cup with a 17–16 loss against Fiji, Earl Va'a missing an injury-time penalty. They recovered to beat Tonga both home and away and avenged that Fijian defeat with a 22–12 win in Nadi. They ultimately had to settle for second place in the round robin, behind Fiji on points difference, and a place in the tougher of the two Rugby World Cup 2003 pools alongside automatic qualifiers England and South Africa. In one of the games of the tournament, they led eventual champions England for most of the game before losing 35–22.
Samoa qualified for the 2011 World Cup after beating Papua New Guinea 73–12 in Port Moresby on 18 July 2009. They won 188–19 on aggregate over two matches against Papua New Guinea, having won 115–7 at Apia Park the previous week.
Samoa began their 2011 World Cup campaign preparation with a flying start, after registering an upset against No.2 ranked Australia with a four-try-to-two win of 32–23.
In November 2017, Samoa's prime minister and SRU chairman Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi announced that the organisation was bankrupt, although those claims were denied by world governing body World Rugby.

Overall record

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Samoa national XV at test level up until 18 November 2025, updated after match with.

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
	5	3	2	0	%	121	101	+20
	6	1	5	0	16.66%	73	238	−165
	1	1	0	0	50.00%	31	26	+5
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	24	27	−3
	2	1	0	1	50.00%	50	21	+29
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	48	10	+38
	6	6	0	0	100.00%	169	103	+66
	3	1	1	1	33.33%	87	73	+14
	3	3	0	0	100.00%	102	31	+71
	9	0	9	0	0.00%	131	310	−179
	57	21	33	3	%	994	1,173	−179
	3	0	3	0	0.00%	20	58	−38
	4	0	4	0	0.00%	49	156	−107
	6	2	3	1	%	135	110	+25
	2	2	0	0	100.00%	108	43	+65
	8	1	7	0	%	121	273	−152
	9	6	3	0	%	225	183	+42
	19	12	7	0	%	574	410	+164
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	74	7	+67
	3	3	0	0	100.00%	115	33	+82
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	28	6	+22
	7	0	7	0	0.00%	72	411	−339
	2	2	0	0	100.00%	188	19	+169
	3	1	2	0	%	59	49	+10
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	34	9	+25
	13	1	11	1	%	205	373	−168
	9	0	9	0	0.00%	99	431	−332
	2	2	0	0	100.00%	62	40	+22
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	33	11	+22
	71	39	28	4	%	1,350	1,075	+275
	9	6	3	0	%	187	170	+17
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	60	13	+47
	10	4	6	0	40.00%	180	235	−55
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	54	9	+45
Total	280	125	144	11	%	5,862	6,237	−375

World Cup record

In one of the scenes of the feature film, Invictus, Western Samoa can be seen playing South Africa in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Pacific Nations Cup

Samoa previously competed in the Pacific Tri-Nations winning 11 tournaments. The Pacific Nations Cup replaced the Tri-Nations tournament in 2006. Samoa have won four tournaments.

Tournament	Won	Drawn	Lost	Samoa finish
2006	2	0	2	2nd / 5
2007	3	0	2	3rd / 6
2008	2	0	3	3rd / 6
2009	2	0	2	3rd / 5
2010	2	0	1	1st / 4
2011	1	0	2	3rd / 4
2012	3	0	0	1st / 4
2013				DNP
2014	1	1	0	1st / 3
2015	2	1	1	2nd / 6
2016	1	0	1	2nd / 3
2017	0	0	2	3rd / 3
2018	0	0	2	4th / 4
2019	1	0	2	4th / 6
2022	3	0	0	1st / 4
2024	2	0	2	3rd / 6
2025	0	0	3	6th / 6
Total	25	2	24	4 titles

Wins against Tier 1 nations

Samoa have recorded 17 wins against tier 1 nations. In addition, Samoa drew with Scotland 15–15 on the 18 November 1995 at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Players

Current squad

On 31 October, Samoa named a 30-player squad ahead of the 2027 Men's [Rugby World Cup – Regional play-off and Final Qualification Tournament#Final Qualification Tournament|2027 Rugby World Cup Final Qualification Tournament].
Head coach: Tusi Pisi

Caps updated: 13 November 2025

Player records

Most caps

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Start	Sub	Won	Lost	Draw	%
1	Brian Lima	Wing	1991–2007	65	62	3	32	31	2	50.76
2	To'o Vaega	Centre	1986–2001	61	56	5	35	25	1	58.19
3	Semo Sititi	Flanker	1999–2009	59	50	9	33	26	0	55.93
4	Census Johnston	Prop	2005–2017	57	43	14	25	31	1	44.73
5	David Lemi	Wing	2004–2017	54	46	8	21	31	2	40.74
6	Jack Lam	Flanker	2013-2022	44	39	5	14	28	2	41.66
6	Zak Taulafo	Prop	2009–2016	44	39	5	20	22	2	47.72
8	Opeta Palepoi	Lock	1998–2005	43	30	13	24	19	0	55.81
9	Tusi Pisi	Fly-half	2011–2019	42	38	4	15	26	1	36.90
9	Ofisa Treviranus	Flanker	2009–2018	42	32	15	17	24	1	41.66

Last updated: United States vs Samoa, 21 September 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most tries

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Start	Sub	Pts	Tries
1	Brian Lima	Wing	1991–2007	65	62	3	140	29
2	Alesana Tuilagi	Wing	2002–2015	37	35	2	90	18
3	Semo Sititi	Flanker	1999–2009	59	50	9	85	17
4	Afato So'oalo	Wing	1996–2001	20	18	2	80	16
5	Lome Fa'atau	Wing	2000–2007	35	31	4	70	14
5	To'o Vaega	Centre	1986–2001	61	56	5	79	14
7	David Lemi	Wing	2004–2017	54	46	8	65	13
8	Ed Fidow	Wing	2018–2023	21	16	5	60	12
9	George Leaupepe	Centre	1995–2005	26	23	3	50	10
10	Tupo Fa'amasino	Centre	1988–1996	20	20	0	52	9
10	Alapati Leiua	Centre	2013–2024	36	33	3	45	9
10	Elvis Seveali'i	Centre	2000–2007	20	16	4	45	9

Last updated: United States vs Samoa, 21 September 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most points

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Pts	Tries	Conv	Pens	Drop
1	Tusi Pisi	Fly-half	2011–2019	42	245	2	29	57	2
2	Earl Va'a	Fly-half	1996–2003	28	174	3	33	31	0
3	Silao Leaega	Fullback	1997–2002	19	145	2	21	31	0
4	Brian Lima	Wing	1991–2007	65	140	29	0	0	0
5	Darren Kellett	Fly-half	1993–1995	13	137	2	14	31	2
6	Roger Warren	Fly-half	2004–2008	12	119	0	13	29	2
7	D'Angelo Leuila	Fly-half	2016-	29	106	2	21	16	2
7	Gavin Williams	Centre	2007–2010	16	106	5	18	15	0
9	Tanner Vili	Fly-half	1999–2006	31	99	4	20	13	0
10	Alesana Tuilagi	Wing	2002–2015	37	90	18	0	0	0

Last updated: United States vs Samoa, 21 September 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most matches as captain

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Won	Lost	Draw	%	Pts	Tries
1	Semo Sititi	Flanker	2000–2007	39	19	20	0	48.71	45	9
2	Pat Lam	Number 8	1995–1999	23	8	13	2	39.13	10	2
3	David Lemi	Wing	2012–2017	21	9	10	2	47.61	35	7
4	Peter Fatialofa	Prop	1990–1995	16	11	5	0	68.75	9	2
5	Michael Alaalatoa	Prop	2019-	13	8	4	1	61.54	0	0
5	Mahonri Schwalger	Hooker	2009–2011	13	5	8	0	38.46	0	0
7	Theo McFarland	Lock	2024-	11	6	4	1	54.55	0	0
7	Chris Vui	Lock	2017–2023	11	4	7	0	37.50	5	1
9	Jack Lam	Flanker	2018–2019	9	1	8	0	12.50	15	3
10	George Stowers	Number 8	2008–2009	7	4	3	0	57.14	10	2

Last updated: Samoa vs Belgium, 18 November 2025. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most points in a match

Player

Pos

Pts

Tries

Conv

Pens

Drop

Opposition

Venue

Date

Gavin Williams

Centre

ru|TGA

Most tries in a match

Player

Pos

Pts

Tries

Conv

Pens

Drop

Opposition

Venue

Date

Elvis Seveali'i

Wing

ru|TGA

Current Coaches

New Zealand connection

Western Samoa's triumph in the 1991 Rugby World Cup was inspired by their assistant coach Bryan Williams, who was a New Zealand-born All Black great of the 1970s. The 1991 Samoan World Cup team included many New Zealand born or raised players; the catalyst was Auckland prop Peter Fatialofa, who in 1989, became the first major New Zealand-based player to play for Samoa. By the time of the 1991 World Cup several other New Zealand-born Samoans like Pat Lam, Stephen Bachop, Frank Bunce and Apollo Perelini had joined him. New Zealand born players with Samoan parentage have played for Samoa, such as Earl Va'a, Pat Lam and Lome Fa'atau.
The rugby relationship that exists between New Zealand and Samoa is a complex one. Close ties exist between the two countries, these bonds first being formed with the start of mass Polynesian migration to New Zealand in the latter half of the twentieth century. At the 2007 World Cup, there were 14 New Zealand-born players in the Samoan squad. The only team with more foreign born players in their squad was Italy who had 15.

Strips

Manu Samoa play in blue and white uniforms, with the home strip consisting of blue jerseys, white shorts and blue socks and the away kit being with the colours reversed. Since 2007, the flag of Samoa has been featured on the left sleeve and pe'a-like patterns were incorporated into the jerseys. Sponsored logos appear on jerseys for matches other than the Rugby World Cup, where branding, except for equipment manufacturers, is not allowed.