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Under-20 Welcome Back as Winners

Singing
Giving praise upon safe return back to Samoa

29/06/09 - Returning to Samoa having secured a berth at next year's Under-20 World Championship, the young men wearing the Blue jersey were greeted with pride by the establishment.

Chairman for the Samoa Rugby Union, Hon Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi congratulated the team and management in achieving a number of highlights. "You have achieved something previous Under-20 teams had not reached, that is to defeat two Tier-1 rugby nation teams in the one tournament. Defeating both Scotland and Ireland are major landmarks and one in which the country is very proud."

Executive
L-R: Su'a Schuster (CEO), Hon. Tuilaepa S. Malielegaoi (Chairman), Namulauulu Leota (Team Manager), Hon. Tuiloma Lameko (President), Fepulea'i Roma (SRU Secretary)

Samoa Under-20s Finish on a High

OVer the moon
Samoa Under-20s as they started the tournament defeating Scotland so they ended it by defeating tier-1 and Six Nations champion Ireland.

20/06/09 - Last night we completed our last game of the JWC tournament and defeated Ireland 9-3.

There were no tries in the match but our boys played a tough and physical match that showed a great deal of character and courage.

As expected, Ireland used their big forwards in their rolling maul but we defended well and our discipline in the ruck area as well as in the whole game was a major factor in winning the game. We denied, perhaps, one of the best goal kicking first-five in the tournament from scoring points. We gave them nothing, our discipline was top notch.

Tautalafua Mataafa

Tautalafua Mataafa offloading in the tackle against Ireland.

Samoa U-20s grinds out win over Japan

Try-scorer Tito Sufia in action against the Japanese defence in their Pool B encounter at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium on 9 June 2009. Photo: Hiroyuki Nagaoka (RJP).

09/06/09 - Samoa’s Under-20s competing in the Junior World Cup in Japan subdued a tough Japan team to run out winners 29-20 at Prince Chicibu Stadium Wednesday night.

Samoa followed up its opening 17-14 epic win over Scotland with a tough assignment against Japan in front of 12,000 parochial supporters. Samoa appeared to be coasting in the first half as tries by Tito Sufia, Iafeta Laau and Taupo Sefo gave the team a 22-5 lead before the half-time whistle.

Samoa Under20s to Face Japan

07/06/09 – Fresh from its win over the Scottish Juniors at the Rugby World Cup, Samoa aims to make it two in a row when it meets Japan today.

However, according to Team Manager, Namulauulu Sami Leota, “We are approaching that game with a great deal of intensity. We’re playing the Japanese team in front of their homeground so they will be tough.

“It’s no different to our game against Scotland where we went into that game as underdogs and when we won it was one of the greatest feelings in the world. We’re sure that’s the approach of the Japan team as well so there’s no way we’re taking the game lightly.”

The line-up announced for the Japan game has three changes from the Scotland game.

Samoa Under-20s Team for Japan

An exciting Under-20 squad has been announced by the Samoa Rugby Union to contest the World Champs in Japan. This year’s squad has seen the benefit of the Tri-Nations competition staged by the SRU in February this year, with the selection of 10-players from New Zealand (4) and Australia (6). According to Manager Namulau’ulu Sami Leota, “Last year’s Under-20 was a special group and could easily have been in the top-4 after pushing South Africa all the way. This new group contain a number of special talents right from the front rower Marcus Ah Lam to Fullback Taupo Sefo.

Samoa readies for IRB Junior World Championship 2009

In June this year the future stars of international rugby will all be aiming for gold at the Junior World Cup. Samoa began preparations earlier this week with 30 under-20 players selected to its Licensed Training Centre (LTC) to start preparation.

In 2008 in Wales, Samoa caused a major fright when it was only a few minutes away from upsetting the Springbok Under-20 team. Those four minutes were the difference between 4th and their eventual final placing of 7th, the highest ranking for a Pacific nations team, excluding Australia and winner, NZ.

The 2009 squad according to Samoa’s High Performance Unit will be competitive. Especially now that it has secured the services of high-end trainer, Mr Dave Edgar from Waikato, NZ.

“The boys in the squad are very good. There are few areas that need to be addressed over the next few weeks and we should have them at similar standards as in NZ. Their fitness levels are being addressed first”, says Mr Edgar. “I’m really looking forward to my time here and working with these elite athletes including the Manu Samoa’s preparations for the Pacific Nations Cup and end of year Northern Hemisphere tour.”

With school starting next week, the coaching staff at the LTC have already drawn up schedules for players to ensure their programs are maintained.

The Junior World Cup brings together the finest international players at Under 20 level will be played between June 5-21 across four cities with Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka each hosting a pool.

Reigning champions and number one seeds New Zealand will be joined by Australia, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, in flying the flag for the Oceania region.

The opening round of matches will be played on June 5, with subsequent pool fixtures played on June 9 and June 13, before Tokyo hosts the semi-finals on June 17, with the IRB Junior World Championship final played in Tokyo on June 21.

IRB Junior World Championship 2009 Pools

Pool A: New Zealand, Argentina, Ireland, Uruguay

Pool B: England, Samoa, Scotland, Japan

Pool C: South Africa, France, Italy, Fiji

Pool D: Wales, Australia, Canada, Tonga

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