SAMOA COACH STEPHEN BETHAM lamented the fact that his side ‘didn’t turn up’ during their 40-9 loss to Ireland on Saturday.
Betham had no arguments with the result while captain Kahn Fotuali’i denied that his teammates have have been too emotionally charged following a spine-tingling Siva Tau dance before kick-off.
Samoa put up a good fight in the opening 40 minutes as they relied on line-breaks and fierce rucking to gain a foothold despite Ireland’s superiority at the scrum and lineout. They trailed 14-6 at the break but Sean O’Brien’s try after 45 minutes effectively ended the contest and Samoa leaked three tries in the closing stages.
Betham commented, “Urgency is something that comes from within the player. The coach can try his best to coach [urgency] but it comes within the person.” The Samoan believes Australia and New Zealand, Ireland’s next opponents, may not learn much from Saturday’s clash. Joe Schmidt, he said, is sure to unveil different set-ups for the visit of the two heavyweights. Betham added:
From ranked third to eighth, tenth, anyone can beat anyone on their day. It’s just whether you show up or not. I think one [New Zealand] and two [South Africa] are just far ahead of everyone else. The rest of the [countries] trailing just have to catch up.”
Catching up may be tough for Samoa, who next face the French Barbarians and Georgia before the month is out. Having excelled during a summer series with Tier One teams [South Africa, Scotland and Italy], Fotuali’i admitted it was frustrating that Samoa could not get another big Test in November.
He said, “We would love to play Tier One teams, three games in a row, but we don’t get to pick who we play. As a team and a coaching staff, we just have to prepare for what’s ahead of us… Hopefully the IRB comes and sees that. The best way for us to get better is to play the Tier One teams. I guess we get stuck playing, not the low-ranked teams or whatnot, but for us to get better as a nation we’ve got to play those [top] teams.”
The Northampton Saints scrumhalf and his fellow countrymen took part in a rousing Siva Tau ceremonial dance before the game. Led by Samoan rugby legend, the now retired Brian Lima, the players paid tribute to former prop Peter ‘Fats’ Fatialofa, who passed away earlier in the week.
Faotauli’i said, “It wasn’t draining at all. If anything, it was motivational for us. It was tough when we found out about Peter but that just brought a bit of fire to it.”
“Brian and Peter played together at World Cups,” he added, “and it was just fitting amongst our team to let Brian lead the Siva Tau. This game was for Fats and that’s why the result is so disappointing.”
