‘We knew our time would come’: Manusina opens up about overcoming adversity to secure Women's Rugby World Cup spot

Manusina's journey to qualifying for the Women's Rugby World Cup has not been easy amid Lakapi Samoa's financial woes.

They successfully qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 2014 earlier this month.

World Rugby confirmed the pools for next year's tournament last week and the two Pacific Island teams, Samoa and Fiji, will have a mountain to climb if they want to progress to the knockout phase of the competition.

While the Samoa Rugby Union continues to face scrutiny, Masuisuimatama'ali'i Tauasa-Pauaraisa, the Manusina captain, tells RNZ Pacific there is still a lot of work to be done.

Manusina got to play in front of their families on home soil for the first time in over 15 years, beating Australia A 20-17.

Looking back on their journey, Pauaraisa says they now need the community's support to get to England.

"We know of the financial struggles Lakapi Samoa is going through, and for us to put Samoa back up on the world map, is a massive achievement.

"We have achieved a lot being under-resourced, and this is a team the country now needs to get behind."

At times, Pauaraisa says, they were paid as little as NZ$130-$300 for an entire tournament, with gear arriving late, if at all.

The Manusina players feel "blessed" to have a coach like Mata'afā Lauaki Ramsey Tomokino, she says.

"He's like a hero," she says, adding "when we are not paid, he gets money out of his own pocket to pay the girls and other admin stuff, which is thousands of dollars out of his pocket, and I don't think he gets reimbursed."

Pauaraisa says that as Samoan women, the Manusina players have been "strong in our faith and what we do".

She adds that while there is a lot of focus on the Manu Samoa team, "I don't compare what they do with what we do".

"We carried ourselves with humility and respect; we just got on with it, and God blessed us by qualifying for the World Cup," she explains.

"You can see the heart from all the girls; our goal was to keep building and learning at the same time."

Time to speak out

But now Manusina's time has come, and they are ready to speak out and be heard, Pauaraisa says.

"We knew our time would come, but we can't sit on these opportunities and just be grateful, things do need to be better for the next generation.

"You wonder why other countries take away our players, it is because of the financial constraints."

For his part, Mata'afā says what he did to support the team, was out of love for the girls, who are mothers and have families to provide for.

"The [Samoa Rugby] union's in bad shape. It is probably the worst it has ever been," he says.

"I have personally had to put some money into my own pocket. The girls got some money in Samoa. When we got to Dubai, I checked in and saw that the girls did not have any money to pay for anything, so I decided to pay the girls myself."

'Lack of sponsors and funding', says Lakapi Smaoa

Lakapi Samoa chief executive Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai admits there is no hiding the fact that the union is in serious financial difficulty and that this problem "is not new".

He confirmed that Mata'afā has had to use his personal funds to support the women.

"We should be celebrating a coach that cares deeply about his team and will advocate and fight for them and dip into his own pockets to help his team to succeed and bridges a gap for the Union until we can meet the payments," he said via an email reply.

"We are fortunate to have him in the Union and he has served Samoa for many years in different roles and understands the landscape and challenges that the Union and continues to serve."

Faleomavaega said he does this knowing he will be compensated for his expenses.

"Measures made to alleviate or stop the debt included cancelling the Manu Samoa Northern Hemisphere tour, the first time in 20 plus years this has happened, in order to repay outstanding debt without haemorrhaging more funds," he said.

"Commercial deals that have not returned yields, lack of sponsors and funding into the union has contributed to our current situation."

Faleomavaega revealed that the union has not recovered since post-Covid and is continually playing catch-up.

He says Lakapi Samoa's main source of funding is World Rugby, which helps to fund travel to competitions and associated costs such as camps and flights.

However, the World Rugby funding does not cover allowances or team apparel, meaning the union needs to raise this money to cover those costs.

Faleomavaega says Manuisna players received their allowance for the Australia A game.

"Normally allowances are paid in full up front, due to issues with dealing with our current apparel supplier, Lakapi Samoa had to step in to pay for the team apparel for Manu Samoa and now Manusina in order for the factory to be able to release these for their respective competitions.

This unexpected payment has set the union back further.

"This was a most unfortunate situation again and to have to do this twice has severely hurt the Union and has impacted Manusina yet again."

He says the "unexpected payments" in addition to "delay in grants being paid" has set the union back and be able to support Manusina with allowances.

'Manusina is one of our teams that is run extremely well'

He adds Manusina's successes against adversity to represent their country is what should be celebrated.

"We know our Manusina team will have a big preparation year leading into the Rugby World Cup. We, as much as anyone else, do not want to see players availability being impacted by finances and the head coach has raised concerns about players being contracted, which came from players and something we too want to support."

The chief executive says that, while the Lakapi Samoa has had to deal with the Manu Samoa players "threatening to strike", it has "never been entertained by our women players", who he adds "just want represent their families and country with pride".

Faleomavaega says the union "will be looking to do more for Manusina…as best we can".

"The Manusina team is one of our teams that we know is run extremely well, always within budgeted costs and a team that goes about their business with the utmost trust and confidence of the union."

"Continued celebration against minimal resources and funding and being able to not allow that to distract them and push through for the ultimate prize of qualification is what should be elevated," he says, adding that "the support needed to ensure there are better days ahead for these wonderful servants of Samoa."