Samoa Observer: The true and tested warrior Uale Ma’i together with Ofisa Treviranus and match winner extraordinaire Lolo Lui return to the battle ground of their most famous victory – Wellington.

Gone are the charismatic Fuimaono Titimaea Tafua or ‘Dicky’ only to his mates, and cartwheeling coach Galumalemana Rudolf Moors. Standing at the bottom of the Cake Tin, before fires from the most parochial and vociferous crowd in world sports fan the iRB World Sevens furnace for two magnificent days, is Stephen Betham. The new Manu Samoa 7s Head Coach.

Uale Ma’i is back on the iRB World Sevens stage and will make his 62nd appearance - a world record with Santiago Gomez Cora second on 57.
On Friday, 5 February, the Manu 7s will kick start the Wellington extravaganza against France. It also signals Betham’s Wellington debut and the usually quiet and unassuming young man from Vaiala has a glint in his eyes even though his back carries a huge yoke of expectation from back home. “At the moment [before leaving Samoa] we’re confident but at the same time we don’t want to be overconfident. I must say that putting the team through practice sessions and drills in the last few days, it’s been really positive.

“As coaches, it’s that positive attitude we want to capture, to store and protect so we can carry it right through the gate ready for release in that first game. And come what may in that first match, we aim to hang onto that positiveness for all our matches in Wellington because no matter what, the four old heads in this squad have been there before. They won it in 2007.” He’s talking about Uale Ma’i, Ofisa Treviranus, captain Lolo Lui and Simaika Mikaele.

In the opening rounds of the IRB World Sevens Series both Uale and Ofisa were on duty with the Manu Samoa’s Northern Hemisphere tour. Yet the campaign yielding 26 points has been the best since Samoa’s been in the iRB Series. It was, according to Betham, their re-introduction was a difficult decision, “We had a long discussion in selecting this squad due to the mixed performances by our Samoa Barbarians in Suva two weekends ago.

“In the end we stayed true to our core criterion which is consistency of selection. Therefore we kept 10 of the 12 from the Dubai and George squads and opted to take the experience and big-time temperament of Uale and Ofisa. This ensures we have a very strong bench so as the tournament progresses and we get into a situation where we lose experienced players early then we feel more secure we have the depth on the bench to cover that possibility.”
Samoa comes up against France, Canada and Argentina in Pool D and the expectation is for Samoa and Argentina to fight out first and runner-up slots and progress through to the Cup quarter-finals.

France in 18 meetings with Samoa has only won three times and bookmakers feel that trend will not alter much after 1:15pm this Friday. On the other hand Canada is rebuilding with a focus towards the Olympics 2016. New Canada Sevens coach Morgan Williams has put his faith in youth for their first appearances on the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series with three of his 12-man squad still in their teens.
Taylor Paris is the youngest at 17 while Keaton Styles and Shawnigan Lake School student Dustin Dobravsky are both only 18-years-old. “These are the kind of guys we will be targeting for 2016. I think it is better to blood them at a younger age rather than trying to convert them to Sevens at an older age.”

It is likely the youngsters will get an excellent classroom tutorial from Headmaster Uale Ma’i who will be extending his iRB all time appearance record to 62 in Wellington. Another player reaching a milestone is Simaika Mikaele who in Wellington will make his 37 iRB appearance to overtake Alapasa Cordtz and become Samoa’s second most iRB Sevens-capped player.

For Coach Betham and his management team there will be no let up in intensity, “We’re taking every game as a test match and we’re not look any further than our opening match. Last year we got a backlash from France so we’ll try and change that. Canada and Argentina although we know what they’re capable of, is not on our radar until after France. But we’ll see what happens on the day.”

Simaika Mikaele a survivor from the victorious 2007 Wellington team will make his 37th iRB World Sevens appearance in the 2010 Wellington event.
Betham has already stated Samoa’s no.1 priority for iRB World Sevens Series in 2010 – to be in the top 8 after the last leg in Scotland. That result secures iRB core funding for the Manu Samoa 7s participation in the 2010/2011 Series. If the team finishes out of the Top 8 there is concern there will not be enough funding to secure participation in the series. That will seriously affect the country’s aspirations of Olympic participation and a competitive feeding ground for Manu Samoa XVs and talent showcasing for contract opportunities.
“Our realistic goal is to make the semi-finals for all the iRB World Series events. Of course the ultimate goal is to win the final however, to make the Top 8 in the Series that’s what our realistic goal is”, stated Betham.

Translating that goal into points means after two rounds Samoa should have 32 points. Currently the team has 26 from a finals appearance in Dubai and Plate semi-final appearance in George. Although it’s the best start by far by any Samoa 7s campaign it is still 6-points adrift of the target set. And Betham and the team will be well aware of that fact, irrespective of dubious refereeing decisions that disadvantaged the team in the Dubai finals and George Plate semi-finals, both matches involving big guns New Zealand and South Africa.

As the team runs onto the Wellington stage this Friday, it’s a sure bet that preparations will include an off-the-field session between Coach Betham and referees to at least give our team the heads up on interpretation. Manu 7s deserve it, more so now that Samoa rugby has a new kit sponsor on board to impress.

2010 IRB WELLINGTON SEVENS
Pool A: New Zealand, South Africa, Wales, Niue
Pool B: Fiji, Australia, Scotland, Papua New Guinea
Pool C: England, Kenya, USA, Tonga
Pool D: Samoa, Argentina, France, Canada

2009 WELLINGTON RESULTS
Cup winner: England 19-17 New Zealand
Plate winner: Wales 12-26 South Africa
Bowl winner: Tonga 10-24 Cook Islands
Shield winner: Scotland 26-0 Niue
SAMOA RESULTS
Lost to Niue 21 - 12 Samoa-SF Shield
Lost to France 24 – 7 Samoa-1/4 final Bowl
Lost to Fiji 19 – 5 Samoa-Pool D
Won Samoa 26 - 17 USA-Pool D
Won Samoa 12 - 5 Cook Islands-Pool D

2008 WELLINGTON RESULTS
Cup winner: New Zealand 22-17 Samoa
Plate winner: South Africa 19-12 Wales
Bowl winner: England 12-7 Argentina
Shield winner: USA 22-7 Kenya
SAMOA RESULTS
Lost to New Zealand 22 - 17 Samoa-Cup Final
Won Tonga 21 – 24 Samoa-Semi-Final Cup
Won Fiji 17 – 19 Samoa-1/4 final Cup
Lost New Zealand 19 - 7 Samoa-Pool A
Won Canada 10 - 31 Samoa-Pool A
Won PNG 0 - 22 Samoa-Pool D

2007 WELLINGTON RESULTS
Cup winner: Samoa 19-17 Fiji
Plate winner: England 21-12 France
Bowl winner: Argentina 12-5 Tonga
Shield winner: Portugal 26-24 Scotland
SAMOA RESULTS
Won Fiji 17 - 19 Samoa-Cup Final
Won South Africa 12 – 14 Samoa-Semi-Final Cup
Won Kenya 21 – 26 Samoa-1/4 final Cup
Won England 12 - 19 Samoa-Pool C
Won Scotland 26 - 31 Samoa-Pool C
Won PNG 0 - 26 Samoa-Pool D

01 February, 2010