Samoa Top Qualifiers In Oceania For New Zealand 2011

Samoa for a country not considered one of the big boys of international rugby have an excellent world cup pedigree. They have won half the matches they've played and reached the quarter-finals on two occasions..

The pacific nation faced Papua New Guinea in qualifying beating them 115-7 and 73-12. Winning the group means they hold at 12th in the IRB world standings two places below Fiji who they will play in pool D with South Africa, Wales and Namibia. We cannot see them winning their way out of the pool.

Samoa In Pool 'D'

Samoa are all about strength, power, tough tackling and the will to win. This stands them in good stead, but a lack of technical skills and tactical awareness means against the top teams, who can match their power, they can be found out and find it difficult to get and keep possession. Expect them to win 1 or maybe 2 of their games in pool D, taking Namibia and Fiji, although Fiji will fancy their chances of an upset, but we expect Samoa to finish third in the pool and fail to qualify for the next phase losing out to South Africa and Wales.

Samoa News

Scotland Announce 2010 Autumn Opposition - Scotland will face New Zealand, South Africa and Samoa in their 2010 Autumn internationals at Murrayfield

Teams for Wales v Samoa - Wales coach Warren Gatland has recalled scrum-half Dwayne Peel for his 70th cap amid five starting line-up changes for the team to face Samoa in Cardiff on Friday

Samoa storm into 2011 World Cup - Manu Samoa have qualified for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand after beating Papua New Guinea 73-12 in Port Moresby on Saturday

Samoa thrash PNG - Samoa 115 PNG 7 - Samoa took a huge step towards securing the Oceania 1 qualifying spot at Rugby World Cup 2011 with an impressive 115-7 victory over Papua New Guinea (PNG) at Apia Park on Saturday

Samoa name Under 20 training squad - Samoa Under 20 head coach Sogi Vincent Meleisea has named a 33-man training squad for the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship, which takes place across four venues in Wales from 6-22 June