Manu Samoa took their first steps on the road to Rugby World Cup 2003 with a heartbreaking 17-16 defeat by Fiji, Earl Va’a missing an injury-time penalty in the opening match in the second round of the Oceania zone qualifiers.
The Pacific Islanders recovered to beat Tonga both home and away and avenged that Fijian defeat with a 22-12 win in Nadi to guarantee their place as one of the two automatic qualifiers from the region.
Samoa ultimately had to settle for second place in the round robin, behind Fiji on points difference, and a place in the tougher of the two Rugby World Cup 2003 pools alongside automatic qualifiers England and South Africa.
This is Samoa’s fourth Rugby World Cup, and few will forget their debut match as Western Samoa stunned Wales 16-13 in Cardiff in 1991.
They went on to reach the play-off for the quarter-finals that year, where they lost 28-6 to Scotland, and would repeat the feat four years later with another last-eight berth after beating Argentina and Italy. This time eventual champions South Africa ended their hopes.
Renowned for their hard-tackling and burning desire to win, Samoa once again proved too strong for Wales in 1999 with a 38-31 victory only to then lose out to Scotland in the quarter final play-off.
Samoa has a tradition of producing talented players who have enjoyed success in both rugby union and rugby league with Va’aiga Tuigamala and Apollo Perelini prime examples.
Others to have represented the country include Frank Bunce, Stephen Bachop and current assistant coach Michael Jones, while Taufusi Salesa, Peter Fatialofa and Pat Lam also made a big impact on Samoan rugby.