Rugby union positions
In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards and seven backs. In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16–23. Players are not restricted to a single position, although they specialise in just one or two that suit their skills and body types. Players that play multiple positions are called "utility players"; the scrum must consist of eight players from each team: the "front row", the "second row", a "back row". The players outside the scrum are called "the backs": half back, first five, second five, two wings, a fullback. Early names, such as "three-quarters" and "outside-halves" are still used by many in the Northern Hemisphere, while in the Southern Hemisphere the fly-half and inside centre are colloquially called "first five-eighth" and "second five-eighth" while the scrum-half is known as the "half-back"; the backs play behind the forwards and are more built and faster. Successful backs are skilful at kicking.
Full-backs need to be good defenders and kickers, have the ability to catch a kicked ball. The wingers are among the fastest players in a team and score many of the tries; the centres' key attacking roles are to break through the defensive line and link with wingers. The fly-half can be a good kicker and directs the backline; the scrum-half retrieves the ball from the forwards and needs a quick and accurate pass to get the ball to the backs. Forwards compete for the ball in scrums and line-outs and are bigger and stronger than the backs. Props push in the scrums. Locks jump for the ball at the line-out after the hooker has thrown it in; the flankers and number eight should be the first forwards to a tackle and play an important role in securing possession of the ball for their team. There are a maximum of 15 players from each team on a rugby field at one time; the players' position at the start of the game are indicated by the numbers on the back of their shirts, 1 to 15. The positions are divided into two main categories.
In international matches, there are eight substitutes. The substitutes, numbered 16 to 23, can either take up the position of the player they replace or the on-field players can be shuffled to make room for this player in another position; the replacement players will have a number that corresponds with their intended replacement position with the numbers from 16 to 20 being forwards and 21 to 23 being backs. There are no personal squad numbers and a versatile player's position and number may change from one game to the next. Players can change positions with players on the field during the match, and, as long as the laws are followed, any player can change positions with another player during the match. Common examples are the fly-half playing the full-back's position in defence or a prop taking the hooker's position at line-outs. Different positions on the field suit certain skill sets and body types leading to players specialising in a limited number of positions; each position has certain roles to play on the field, although most have been established through convention rather than law.
During general play, as long as they are not offside, the players may be positioned anywhere on the field. It is during the set pieces and line-out, when the positions are enforced. During early rugby union games there were only two positions; the attacking possibilities of playing close behind the scrimmage were recognised. The players who stationed themselves between the forwards and tends became known as "half-tends", it was observed that the players outside scrimmage were not limited to a defensive role, so the tends and half-tends were renamed "backs" and "half-backs". As the game became more sophisticated, the backs positioned at different depths behind the forwards, they were further differentiated into half-backs, three-quarter-backs, full-back. Specialised roles for the scrum evolved with "wing-forward" being employed to protect the half-back; the first international between England and Scotland was played in 1871 and consisted of twenty players on each side: thirteen forwards, three half-backs, one three-quarter and three full-backs.
The player numbers were reduced to fifteen in 1877. Numbers were added to the backs of players' jerseys in the 1920s as a way for coaches and selectors to rate individual players; the various positions have changed names over time and many are known by different names in different countries. Players in the flanker positions were known as "wing forwards", while in the backs, "centre three-quarter" and "wing three-quarter" were used to describe the outside centre and wing The names used by World Rugby tend to reflect Northern Hemisphere usage although fly-half is still known as "outside-half" or "stand-off" in Britain, "outhalf" in Ireland. In New Zealand, the scrum-half is still referred to as the "half-back", the fly-half is referred to as the "first five-eighth", the inside centre is called the "second five-eighth" and t
Yorkshire Carnegie
Yorkshire Carnegie is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, which plays in the RFU Championship. The club was founded in 1991 as Leeds RUFC. In 1998, the club merged with Leeds Rhinos to form Leeds Rugby Limited known as Leeds Tykes. In 2007, Leeds Metropolitan University bought a 51% stake in the club and changed the name to fit with the university's sport department, Carnegie College. At the end of the 2008–09 season, ownership of the club passed back into the hands of Leeds Rugby. Leeds have bounced between the Premiership and the second-level National Division One, now known as the RFU Championship. Leeds were relegated from the Premiership as bottom finishers in 2006, promoted as National Division One champions in 2007, relegated again from the Premiership in 2008, promoted a second time as National Division One champions in 2009, they managed to stay in the Premiership in the 2009–10 season, which helped to secure their financial future. In 2009–10, they only received 60% of a full share of Premiership revenues.
Headingley has a tradition of rugby which started back in 1877, after several youngsters became interested in rugby after watching Leeds St. John's to become the Leeds Rhinos rugby league team, their first game was in November against the Saints second team. Union was centred around a church club; the original rugby union team was Leeds St John's and it played at the Militia Barracks ground before moving to Cardigan Fields. The Headingley name was adopted in 1878 and Cardigan Fields was used for both rugby and cricket. On 5 January 1884, England played Wales there and won 5–3 with a crowd in the region of 2,000 in attendance; the club playing there was disbanded but was re-formed again in 1885 under the auspices of the Headingley Hill Chapel Sunday Class and played matches on local fields against local teams, including Roundhay. In 1888, the Cardigan Estate was sold at auction and Lot 17a was purchased by a group of Leeds citizens, who intended to form the city's leading sports club. Lot 17a became.
Leeds St John's played their final season under that name in 1889–90, before becoming the football section of Leeds Cricket and Athletic Company Ltd the following season. With Headingley still being completed, Leeds' first game was staged at Cardigan Fields, the home side defeating Otley; the first game at Headingley was played on 20 September 1890, when Manningham were beaten by one try and one dropped goal to nil. Leeds were founder members of the Northern Union when it broke away from the Rugby Football Union in 1895. Leeds' début in the Northern Union was a 6–3 victory at Leigh on 7 September 1895, the inaugural day of the new competition; the development of the playing fields into the Headingley ground was down to Lord Hawke, behind the creation of the Leeds Cricket and Athletic Company and the purchase of lot 17A of the Cardigan Estate.. However, this saw the demise of the Leeds club; the part, to become the Rugby League club in 1895-6 stayed at the Headingley ground and Headingley RUFC was reborn in 1891 finishing up in 1902 in Clarence Fields, Kirkstall.
Two other internationals were played in Leeds before the split between Union and League, against Ireland and Scotland, both ending in defeat. In 1889, Headingley was disbanded when Leeds St. John's moved into the area, built Headingley Rugby Stadium and dropped the St. John's from their name. However, Headingley bounced back and found fixtures outside Yorkshire, in 1901 their fixture list including a game against the famous Blackheath Rugby Club. Roundhay were moved to their ground at Chandos Park in the 1930s. Forty internationals have played for one team or the other the best known being Peter Winterbottom, Ian McGeechan and Chris Rea, who played for Headingley. Former Scotland coach Frank Hadden had a spell at Headingley, where his and McGeechan's playing paths crossed, at the tail end of his career. Brian Moore played for Roundhay before selection for England. Leeds RUFC was founded in 1991 after the merger of Headingley; the new club played their first match on 1 September 1992 against Hull Ionians.
The first try was scored by Glynn Thompson of Roundhay. Richard Cardus, Bev Dovey, Denis Wilkins and Keith Smith all won international caps while in the Roundhay ranks. Smith featured in England's first full tour of Australia in 1975, but had to return home injured and Wilkins, in the Royal Navy, won 13 caps, between 1951–53; when they amalgamated in 1991–92, both clubs were in National Division Three. In the first season in National Three, Leeds finished 6th, but League reorganisation put the club in National Division Four, with finishes of 6th, 6th and 5th in 1995–96; the following season, they finished 3rd, scoring 1,209 points in thirty games, with the former England ‘A’ outside-half Gerry Ainscough scoring 307 points, the ex-Scotland'A' utility back Mark Appleson scoring sixteen tries. In 1997–98, they were promoted from the newly formed Jewson One to Premiership Two, finishing runners-up to Worcester; the Tongan Sateki Tuipulotu scored a club record 322 points. In 1998, the club amalgamated with Leeds Rhinos to form Leeds Rugby Limited.
Leeds RUFC took on a new name when they entered Leeds Tykes. The Tykes finished 6th in their first season in Premiership Two with t
Samoa
Samoa the Independent State of Samoa and, until 4 July 1997, known as Western Samoa, is a country consisting of two main islands, Savai'i and Upolu, four smaller islands. The capital city is Apia; the Lapita people settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed Samoan cultural identity. Samoa is a unitary parliamentary democracy with eleven administrative divisions; the country is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976; the entire island group, which includes American Samoa, was called "Navigator Islands" by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills. New Zealand scientists have dated remains in Samoa to about 2900 years ago; these were found at a Lapita site at Mulifanua and the findings were published in 1974. The origins of the Samoans are studied in modern research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics and anthropology. Scientific research is ongoing.
Intimate sociocultural and genetic ties were maintained between Samoa and Tonga, the archaeological record supports oral tradition and native genealogies that indicate inter-island voyaging and intermarriage between pre-colonial Samoans and Tongans. Notable figures in Samoan history included Queen Salamasina. Nafanua was a famous woman warrior, deified in ancient Samoan religion. Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722; this visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s, when English missionaries and traders began arriving. Visits by American trading and whaling vessels were important in the early economic development of Samoa; the Salem brig Roscoe, in October 1821, was the first American trading vessel known to have called, the Maro of Nantucket, in 1824, was the first recorded United States whaler at Samoa.
The whalers came for fresh drinking water and provisions, they recruited local men to serve as crewmen on their ships. Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived in Sapapali'i from the Cook Islands and Tahiti. According to Barbara A. West, "The Samoans were known to engage in ‘headhunting', a ritual of war in which a warrior took the head of his slain opponent to give to his leader, thus proving his bravery." However, Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived in Samoa from 1889 until his death in 1894, wrote in A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, "… the Samoans are gentle people." The Germans, in particular, began to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands on the island of Upolu, where German firms monopolised copra and cocoa bean processing. The United States laid its own claim, based on commercial shipping interests in Pearl River in Hawaii and Pago Pago Bay in Eastern Samoa, forced alliances, most conspicuously on the islands of Tutuila and Manu'a which became American Samoa.
Britain sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights, consulate office. This was followed by an eight-year civil war, during which each of the three powers supplied arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties; the Samoan crisis came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, a larger-scale war seemed imminent. A massive storm on 15 March 1889 destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict; the Second Samoan Civil War reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States were locked in dispute over who should control the Samoa Islands. The Siege of Apia occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by a larger force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mata'afa Iosefo. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four American warships. After several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were defeated. American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899, including the USS Philadelphia.
Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States resolved to end the hostilities and divided the island chain at the Tripartite Convention of 1899, signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900. The eastern island-group was known as American Samoa; the western islands, by far the greater landmass, became German Samoa. The United Kingdom had vacated all claims in Samoa and in return received termination of German rights in Tonga, all of the Solomon Islands south of Bougainville, territorial alignments in West Africa; the German Empire governed the western Samoan islands from 1900 to 1914. Wilhelm Solf was appointed the colony's first governor. In 1908, when the non-violent Mau a Pule resistance movement arose, Solf did not hesitate to banish the Mau leader Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe to Saipan in the German Northern Mariana Islands; the German colonial administration governed on the principle that "there was only one government in the islands." Thus, there was no Samoan Tupu
Warrington Wolves
Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club in Warrington, that competes in the Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Zingari Football Club in 1876, they are one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895 and the only one that has played every season in the top flight, they are nicknamed "The Wire" in reference to the wire-drawing industry in the town. Warrington have local rivalries with St. Helens and Wigan, they have won three League Championships and are the fourth most successful team in the Challenge Cup with eight victories, behind Wigan, St. Helens and Leeds, their most successful season came in 1953–54 when they completed a Championship and Challenge Cup'Double', beating Halifax twice in the space of four days to first win the Challenge Cup 8–4 in a replay at Odsal clinch the Championship 8–7 at Maine Road. 1955 was the last time. Warrington are the 11th most successful rugby league club in England behind Wigan Warriors, St Helens, Bradford Bulls, Hull FC, Leeds Rhinos, Salford Red Devils, Widnes Vikings, Hull Kingston Rovers and Swinton Lions.
The official foundation date for the club is given as 1876, but rugby football was played in the town before that date and there was an earlier club bearing the name of Warrington Football Club. Under the heading'Outdoor Sports – Football' the Widnes Guardian of 25 January 1873 reports on a recent game between Warrington and Wigan at the unnamed ground of the former. On 6 December 1873 that same newspaper carried details of a match involving Warrington and Zingari and in subsequent weeks there were matches with Sale and Free Wanderers; this club folded. Warrington Zingari Football Club was formed in 1876 by seven young local men; when the earlier club folded, they decided to take the vacant Warrington Football Club name for the start of the 1877/8 season. Another local club, Padgate Excelsior amalgamated with Warrington in 1881–82, Warrington Wanderers joined in 1884 to form a representative town side. In 1886, the club won the West Lancashire and Border Towns Trophy. On 28 August 1895, the Committee decided to join with 21 other clubs throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire to form a new'Northern Union' and resigned from the RFU.
In 1900 -- 01, Warrington reached the final of the Challenge Cup. A crowd of 29,000 turned out at Leeds to see Warrington battle hard but be beaten by two tries to nil. Warrington appeared in the renamed South West Lancashire Cup against Leigh two days later; the strenuous game against Batley took its toll on the Warrington players and the match ended in a 0–0 draw, the replay never took place. In 1903–04, Warrington defeated Bradford Northern in a semi-final replay to earn a place in the final of the Challenge Cup. Warrington put up a fine performance against Halifax but lost 8–3. In 1904–05, Warrington beat Hull Kingston Rovers 6–0 to win the Challenge Cup final in front of a crowd of 19,638. In 1908, 14 November the first touring Australian rugby league team visit Warrington; the Kangaroos embarked upon a massive six months tour of Britain taking in 45 matches. Their timing was not good as the north of England was hit by strikes in the cotton mills, which badly affected attendances as fans could not afford to watch the pioneering Aussies.
On Saturday 14 November 1908 Warrington played the Kangaroos. Warrington won the match 10-3, with Jackie Fish the hero scoring one try and Ike Taylor the other and George Dickenson kicked a goal each. A crowd of 5,000 watched the match at Wilderspool; the Warrington team that day was Jimmy Tilley, Jack Fish, George Dickenson, Ike Taylor, Lewis Treharne, Ernest Brooks, John Jenkins, William Dowell, Alfred Boardman, Billy O'Neill, George Thomas, Peter Boardman, John Willie Chester. The Australians came back to Wilderspool for "revenge" in the tour but tries from Jack Fish, John Jenkins earned the'Wirepullers' an 8-8 draw. Two members of the Kangaroo squad, Dan Frawley and Larry O'Malley signed for Warrington and played the next season at Wilderspool. Warrington have the best record of any club side against the touring Kangaroos with eight wins, one draw, seven defeats from sixteen matches. In 1913, 5th challenge cup final, Warrington reached their fifth Challenge Cup Final, with wins over Keighley, Hull Kingston Rovers and Dewsbury.
The Final was lost 9–5 to the mighty Huddersfield team of "All-Stars". Warrington scored first through a try by Bradshaw converted by Jolley and gave a wonderful display in what was considered to be the best Cup Final of the pre-war era. A disappointing league season had seen Warrington finish their lowest pre Great War. So the Challenge Cup performances were a tremendous achievement. Warrington closed for the 1915-16 season but recommenced playing in 1916 following the introduction of conscription which meant that would not be accused of keeping men from volunteering for the First World War. After a bad start to the 1921 -- 22 season, Warrington won; this included an 8–5 victory over the visiting Australasian team of the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Warrington beat Leigh to reach the final of the Lancashire County Cup. Wire beat Oldham 7–5, despite playing with only 12 men for most of the match after centre Collins sustained a broken collar bone. After a bad start to the 1927–28 current and a poor previous season Warrington notched up victories over Hull Kingston Rovers and Leeds in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup.
The final against Swinton was played at Central Park, with an estimated 1
Rugby league positions
A rugby league team consists of thirteen players on the field, with four substitutes on the bench. Each of the thirteen players is assigned a position with a standardised number, which reflects their role in attack and defence, although players can take up any position at any time. Players are divided into two general types and backs. Forwards are chosen for their size and strength, they are expected to run with the ball, to attack, to make tackles. Forwards are required to improve the team's field position thus creating space and time for the backs. Backs are smaller and faster, though a big, fast player can be of advantage in the backs, their roles require speed and ball-playing skills, rather than just strength, to take advantage of the field position gained by the forwards. Forwards tend to operate in the centre of the field, while backs operate nearer to the touch-lines, where more space can be found; the diagram, shows the typical positions of each player during a scrum. The laws of the game recognise standardised numbering of positions.
The starting side wear the numbers corresponding to their positions, only changing in the case of substitutions and position shifts during the game. In some competitions, such as Super League, players receive a squad number to use all season, no matter what positions they play in; the positions and the numbers are defined by the game's laws as: Backs1 Full Back 2 Right Wing Threequarter 3 Right Centre Threequarter 4 Left Centre Threequarter 5 Left Wing Threequarter 6 Stand-off Half or Five-eighth 7 Scrum Half or HalfbackForwards8 Prop 9 Hooker 10 Front Row Forward 11 Second Row Forward 12 Second Row Forward 13 Lock ForwardIn practice, the term'front row forward' is rarely used, a team has two props. The scrum half is known as the half back in Australasia, the lock forward is known as loose forward in England. There are seven backs, numbered 1 to 7. For these positions, the emphasis is on ball-handling skills; the "back-line" consists of smaller, more agile players. Numbered 1, the fullback's primary role is the last line of defence, standing behind the main line of defenders.
Defensively, fullbacks must be able to chase and tackle any player who breaks the first line of defence, must be able to catch and return kicks made by the attacking side. Their role in attack is as a support player, they are used to come into the line to create an overlap in attack. Fullbacks that feature in their respective nations' rugby league halls of fame are France's Puig Aubert, Australia's Clive Churchill and Billy Slater, Charles Fraser, Graeme Langlands and Graham Eadie, Great Britain/Wales' Jim Sullivan and New Zealand's Des White. There are four threequarters: two wingers and two centres - right wing, right centre, left centre and left wing; these players work in pairs, with one winger and one centre occupying each side of the field. Known as wingers. There are two wings in a rugby league team, numbered 2 and 5, they are positioned closest to the touch-line on each side of the field. They are among the fastest players in a team, with the speed to exploit space, created for them and finish an attacking move.
In defence their primary role is to mark their opposing wingers, they are usually required to catch and return kicks made by an attacking team dropping behind the defensive line to help the fullback. Wingers that feature in their nations' rugby league halls of fame are Great Britain's Billy Batten, Billy Boston and Clive Sullivan, Australia's Brian Bevan, John Ferguson, Ken Irvine, Harold Horder and Brian Carlson, South African Tom van Vollenhoven and France's Raymond Contrastin There are two centres and left, numbered 3 and 4 respectively, they are positioned just inside the wingers and are the second-closest players to the touch-line on each side of the field. In attack their primary role is to provide an attacking threat out wide and as such they need to be some of the fastest players on the pitch providing the pass for their winger to finish off a move. In defence, they are expected to mark their opposite centre. Centres that feature in their countries' halls of fame are France's Max Rousié, England's Eric Ashton, Harold Wagstaff and Neil Fox, Wales' Gus Risman and Australia's Reg Gasnier, H "Dally" Messenger, Dave Brown, Jim Craig, Bob Fulton and Mal Meninga.
There are two halves. Positioned more centrally in attack, beside or behind the forwards, they direct the ball and are the team's main play-makers, as such are required to be the most skillful and intelligent players on the team; these players usually perform most tactical kicking for their team. Numbered 6, the stand off or five-eighth is a strong passer and runner, while being agile; this player is referred to as "second receiver", as in attacking situations they are the second player to receive the ball and are able to initiate an attacking move. Star players of this position include Wally Lewis, Darren Lockyer, Bob Fulton, Brad Fittler, Laurie Daley and Terry Lamb Numbered 7, the scrum-half or half back is involved in directing the team's play; the position is sometimes referred to as "first receiver", as half backs are the first to receive the ball from the dummy-half after a play-the-ball. This makes them important decision-makers in attack. A rugby league forward pack consists of six players who tend to be bigger and stronger than backs, rely more on their strength and size to fulfill their roles than play-making skills.
The forwards traditionally formed and contested scrums, however in the modern game
Five-eighth
Five-eighth or Stand-off is one of the positions in a rugby league football team. Wearing jersey number 6, this player is one of the two half backs in a team, partnering the scrum-half. Sometimes known as the pivot or second receiver, in a traditional attacking'back-line'. Play the five-eighth would receive the ball from the scrum half, the first receiver of the ball from the dummy-half or hooker following a tackle; the role of the five-eighth is to pass the ball away from the congested area around the tackle, further out along the'back-line' to the outside backs, the centres and wingers, who have more space to run with it. Furthermore, players in this position assume responsibility for kicking the ball for field position in general play; the five-eighth is therefore considered one of the most important positions referred to as a'play maker', assuming a decision-making role on the field. Over time, however, as the game has evolved, the roles of the two halves have grown more aligned and difficult to distinguish.
Along with other key positions - fullback and scrum half - the five-eighth makes up what is known as a team's spine. One book published in 1996 stated that in senior rugby league, the five-eighth and hooker handled the ball more than any other position; the Rugby League International Federation's Laws of the Game state that the "Stand-off half or Five-eighth" is to be numbered 6. However, traditionally players' jersey numbers have varied, in the modern Super League, each squad's players are assigned individual numbers regardless of position. Traditionally in rugby football, there have always been two half-backs as well as scrums involving the forwards. Of the two half backs, the name "scrum half" was given to the one, involved in the scrum by feeding the ball into it and the name "stand-off half" was given to the one which stood off to the side of the scrum. In Britain, where rugby league originated, this terminology has been retained. In Australian English, however, "five-eighth" is the term used for the number 6, to differentiate from the "half back", the name given to the number 7.
In New Zealand, both terms appear to be used interchangeably. Five-eighths that feature in their respective nations' rugby league halls of fame are England's Roger Millward, Australia's Wally Lewis, Bob Fulton, Brett Kenny, Albert Rosenfeld and Vic Hey, New Zealand's George Menzies. Rugby league's first known black player, Lucius Banks, played in the position for Hunslet R. L. F. C. in 1912-13. Rugby league positions Rugby league gameplay
Samoa national rugby league team
The Samoa national rugby league team represents Samoa in rugby league football and has been participating in international competition since 1986. Known as Western Samoa prior to 1997, the team is administered by Rugby League Samoa and are nicknamed Toa Samoa. Western Samoa has particip in the Pacific Cup, World Sevens, Super League World Nines, World Cup and Pacific Rim competitions. Since 1998 the team has been known as Samoa. Western Samoa made their debut in the 1986 Pacific Cup. Joe Raymond coached this side to a final. Joe Raymond went on to coach them again in 1988 and would return again to coach them 10 years in 1998 in a one off game against a Samoan team of Samoan resident players at Carlaw park. Suani and Lyndsay Stowers operated Samoa Rugby League out of their North Shore home in Auckland and from the Richmond Rugby League Club house where Lyndsay ran the canteen; this resilient couple were known to have put a mortgage on their home to assist with funding the thirty men representing Samoa in the Pacific Cup held in Tonga, 1990.
This commitment lead to a historical win over the Maori team for the first time and won the 1990 Pacific Cup. Coached by the Richmond Bulldogs Head Coach, Steve Kaiser, the Western Samoan team put Samoan rugby league on the map. Samoa won the 1992 Pacific Cup over Tonga in an action filled thriller that went into two overtimes and sent the NZ Rugby League and Polynesian rugby league public into a frenzy; the 1992 Tournament showcased all of NZ Rugby league talent and Australian Rugby league scouts were booked to witness the 1994 Pacific Cup held in Fiji. In 1993 Western Samoa were invited to the International Coca-Cola Sevens in Sydney. With Auckland based Samoan players such as Mark Elia, Tony Tuimavave, Tony Tatupu, Faausu Afoa and Des Maea followed by a group of up and coming players such as Matthew TuiSamoa, Lionel Perera, Aleki Maea, Paki Tuimavave, Joe Vagana, Sefo Fuimaono and Peter Lima, the team beat the Canberra Raiders and the Great Britain International team. Coached by the Richmond Bulldogs' Head Coach Steve Kaiser, this team gave Samoa the status to create the strong foundation Western Samoa Rugby League needed to move forward.
Below this strong foundation however was the strength and commitment of two people: Suani and Lyndsay Stowers. These two held together the concept of Samoa Rugby League and without their dream, Samoa RL will not be where it is today. Steve Kaiser in his sixth year as the Samoan Coach had an array of NZ based quality players for the 1994 Pacific Cup with the likes of Se'e Solomona, Tony Tatupu, the Tuimavave brothers Paki and Tony plus the loyal players of Mike Setefano, Matthew TuiSamoa, Alex Tupou and Mark Faumuina. Henry Suluvale and Rudy David led the contingent of first class players from Canterbury however this arsenal were well contained by the Tongan stars Jim Dymmic, John Hopoate and Albert Fulivae; the 1995 Samoan team had the benefit of ex-All Blacks John Schuster and Va'aiga Tuigamala in their backline. When rugby union went professional players such as Apollo Perelini and Fereti Tuilagi left rugby league to return to the 15-man game. Samoa lost the Pacific Cup in 1996; the 1998 Pacific Cup team saw a old talent.
Joe Raymond, one of the first Samoan Rugby League Rep coaches returned after coaching Tonga and the NZ Maori, the late Eddie Poching managed the team and the introduction of Francis Meli to Samoan Rugby League and Junior Papalii a loyal American Samoan Representative. Pati Tuimavave from the 1992 squad and Matthew TuiSamoa, the only survivor from 1990 Pacific Cup champion team returned. Samoa battled Tonga for the 1998 Pacific Cup again at Carlaw park and again Samoa regained the Pacific Champions Title; the Pacific Cup was taken to Australia's Gold Coast in 2000 where Auckland coach John Ackland took over the reins. Ackland added another dimension to Samoa Rugby League and introduced rising stars, Wayne McDade and Itikeri Sapau-Citran, Tino Brown, Johnny Baker, Louie Talamavoa and bought Matthew TuiSamoa back into the Pacific Cup arena. Samoa took on Ireland and the Aotearoa Māori in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup pool stages, they would lose to'the Irish' in their opening game, but they'd beat NZ Maori, Scotland in their next two games, sealing a place in the knock-out stages.
They would take on Australia in the quarter-final. They ended their tournament with a thrashing 66-10 defeat, sealing an end to a respectable World Cup Campaign. Samoa played in the Pacific Pool of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers, they lost to Tonga. On a points difference, Samoa had to play USA in the Repecharge Semi Final. Samoa won this match 42-10 and played Lebanon on 14 November 2007 in the Repecharge Final to see who would take the 10th and final World Cup place. Samoa came out eventual winners of the 10th and final 2008 Rugby League World Cup place beating Lebanon 38-16 at the Chris Moyles Stadium, Featherstone. For the 2008 Rugby League World Cup tournament Samoa's main jersey sponsor was the Samoa International Finance Authority. Samoa took on Ireland in the Tournament's pool stages, they beat their pacific rivals in a traditional tight pacific match-up, but they lost to'the Irish' by 34-16. This big losing margin, sent the Samoans into battle against the French in the Tournament's 9th place play-off.
Samoa won, winning 42-10 and capping off an undesirable World Cup Tournament. In April 2013, Samoa took on Tonga in the'2013 Pacific Rugby League Test' at Penrith Stadium; the International was created as a World Cup warm-up match. Tonga targeted Samoa's weak defence, it
