 | |
| Union | Samoa Rugby Union [1] |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 (Kagifa Samoa) 2020 (Manuma Samoa) |
| Ground(s) | Apia Park (Cap: 12,000) |
| Coach(es) | Brian Lima |
| Captain(s) | Patrick Fa’apale |
| League(s) | Global Rapid Rugby |
| Union website | |
| www | |
Manuma Samoa is a professional rugby union team based in Samoa that plays in the Global Rapid Rugby competition. [1] Founded in 2019 as Kagifa Samoa, the team is backed by the Samoa Rugby Union. [2]
Manuma, in Samoan, refers to the many-colored fruit dove (Ptilinopus perousii), a small dove found in that country. [3] [4] The team logo includes the head of a manuma bird in profile beneath the Southern Cross in white on a blue background. [1]
The Kagifa Samoa team was established in 2019 and competed in the Pacific Showcase series during the inaugural year of Global Rapid Rugby. [2] [5] In Samoan colloquial speech, a kagifa refers to an enormous wild fish or shark that wreaked havoc in Polynesian mythical legend, [2] and which is more formally referred to as tanifa.
The team was backed by Pacific Sports International in partnership with the Samoa Rugby Union. [2] The 2019 squad included Samoan-based players, [2] [6] Tongans, Fijians and New Zealanders as well as Samoan-eligible players based in Australia and New Zealand. [6] [7] [8]
The team was renamed Manuma Samoa with the backing of the Samoa Rugby Union for the 2020 Rapid Rugby season. [9]
Manuma Samoa plays home games at Apia Park Stadium. Due to construction at Apia Park in 2019 for the Pacific Games, [10] [11] the team's home matches for the Rapid Rugby Pacific Showcase were moved to Pukekohe Stadium in Auckland and Ballymore Stadium in Brisbane. [12]
The Manuma squad for the 2020 Global Rapid Rugby season:
| Manuma Samoa – 2020 Global Rapid Rugby [upper-alpha 1] | |
|---|---|
Hooker
Prop
Lock
Backrow
| Scrum-half
First five
Centre
Wing
Fullback
|
Notes:
| |
| Bold denotes player is internationally capped. (c) Denotes team captain.1 denotes marquee player. |
Global Rapid Rugby
| Year | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | +/− | BP | Pts | Play-offs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 * | 3rd | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 96 | 184 | −288 | 3 | 3 | — |
Notes:
^* 2019 Rapid Rugby matches in the Pacific showcase.
The Samoa national rugby union team represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are 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 (PIRA) along with Fiji and Tonga. They are ranked 11th in the world.
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