Ranked 15th in the world and having been thrashed by Australia 73-0 in their opening game, Samoa’s women would have every right to be nervous facing tournament favourites England next at the Rugby World Cup.
However, the amateur Samoa side view Saturday’s game against the world’s number one-ranked side differently.
Describing the match against the fully professional Red Roses as their “mission impossible”, head coach Ramsey Tomokino has challenged his players to try to “wilt the rose” and “cause the upset of the year”.
“It’s the ultimate David and Goliath story, so we’ve just got to take our five little stones and put faith in them and see what we can do,” Tomokino said.
Tomokino said the players who missed out on selection for the match in Northampton “took it really hard”, but while the game comes with all the bells and whistles of facing hosts England on home soil, he believes Samoa’s biggest match has already passed.
“For me, the biggest game for us was Australia,” he said. “That was a game that could have changed the trajectory of our World Cup. We fell short there.
“We’ve still got something to chase. You never know this weekend, we could cause the upset of the year, but it’s going to be tough.”
On the subject of whether big scores and one-sided games are a bad look for the tournament, the coach is quick to state that “the same thing happens at men’s Rugby World Cups”.
And he’s right. Just two examples would be France 96-0 Namibia and Scotland 84-0 Romania at the 2023 tournament.
“We are deserving to be here because we bring a different flavour,” he said. “We bring our culture and we’ve really embraced it.”
