The youngest member of the 2008 Samoa Rugby League World Cup team, Joseph Paulo, has predicted the “future is bright” for the Polynesian powerhouse.

Samoa escaped last place in the World Cup with their biggest win of the tournament, thrashing France 42-10.

The injury-depleted Samoans were brutal in defence through some tough hits by Kylie Leulua’i, and impressive in attack, led by Man of the Match Ben Roberts.

Now Paulo is just waiting for the next opportunity to play for Samoa.

“The future looks bright for Samoa, I just hope I get another chance to play for them,” Paulo says.

“We just left it all on the field today, no regrets and the future looks good.”

The Samoan team celebrated the win by performing their war dance, the Siva Tau, three more times for the 8,028-strong crowd that stuck around after the match.

The support demonstrated by Samoans living in Australia throughout the World Cup has been a highlight and prompted coach John Ackland to call for more matches involving the Pacific nation into the future.

“We’ve had strong crowds for every game we’ve played and we’ve shown Samoa is an international force,” Ackland says.

However, the squad for this year’s World Cup had a number of senior players who will not be available for much longer, placing the emphasis on Samoa’s young superstars like Paulo, Ben Te’o and Lagi Setu.

“Just coming into a camp with some good players made it so comfortable and made it easy for us younger players to play our best,” Paulo explains.

“I guess that’s what they wanted, for us to enjoy it while we’re young and it was a great opportunity.”

Former Newcastle Knight George Carmont is in his third year of representing Samoa but more than the rugby league, it was embracing the Samoan culture that was a highlight.

“It was good being amongst all the boys who were really into the culture and the guys who are not so fluent in Samoan or know the history of Samoa, gives us a chance to learn off the other boys and it’s a good feeling,” the Wigan Warrior says.

“When we come together it’s always like one big family. We can take a lot of positives out of this tournament so it’s a big step forward.”

Most of the Samoan World Cup team will be heading back to Samoa for one more trip to celebrate the success of the 2008 campaign, leaving this Wednesday.

That trip and the growing popularity of rugby league in Samoa will soon make the Island nation an international force.

“They’re going to get more people playing league in the Islands and there are already many Samoans playing rugby league at a high level,” Carmont says.

“Hopefully we can keep the momentum building so more people will see Samoa as a genuine international option. That would be a big step if a lot of people could make Samoa their number one priority.”

Source: Liz Anderson

 

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