On and off field struggles are adding to the pressure on the Manu Samoa rugby team in the lead-up to this weekend's final test of the year against England.
The Manu are on a six match losing streak and changed coaches mid-season after failing to secure automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup.
The Samoa Rugby Union also declared itself bankrupt earlier this month - a claim later disputed by World Rugby.
Technical advisor John Schuster told Vinnie Wylie it's been a challenging period for the players and staff.
TJ Ioane is back in the starting line-up for Manu Samoa.
Photo: AFP
Transcript
JOHN SCHUSTER: There's no doubting the task at hand. England obviously are top of the world, really, with the All Blacks and we can only hope for an improved performance from our point of view. If we can improve on the performance from Scotland it's good enough to get us a result and at least we are back in the right direction so far as this group of players is concerned.
VINNIE WYLIE: Obviously this England match is in focus as well because the other week there was the talk the Rugby Football Union was giving their counterparts 75,000 pounds as a bit of a gesture and obviously things are tight at the moment financially. World Rugby has come out overnight and refuted
the Chairman or Prime Minister's comments that the Union is broke. How do the players deal with all that talk around the team and the Union while they're obviously trying to prepare for a game of rugby?
JS: It hasn't been easy with the social media and all that, it hasn't been easy. Obviously we're trying as much as we can as a management group to steer the players away from that sort of publicity but we're doing well in that respect to bring the focus on the rugby and why we're here and test matches that we're here to play and let others worry about that situation.
VW: Having not won a game in 2017 from a playing perspective and obviously the coach, Fuimaono, has also been a topic of debate because the fact that the Union selected him even though the panel hadn't opted for him as their preferred candidate so amongst the squad is there a feeling of something to prove?
JS: I can't comment too much on the issue (between World Rugby and the Samoa Rugby Union) with the head coach and so forth but what I can say is the players are all behind him and the players are all keen and all willing to put out a good performance for the last test match of the year.
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