Samoa have described Saturday’s Rugby World Cup match against England, the hosts and favourites, as “mission impossible”; it would rank as one of the biggest ever upsets should they somehow manage to beat the Red Roses.
Samoa are 14 places below England in the world rankings and, while the Red Roses have been fully professional for more than five years, Samoa are yet to introduce full-time contracts. In their opening matches of this tournament England beat the USA 69-7, while Samoa lost 73-0 to Australia.
The different situation the teams find themselves in is something the England players are aware of and the back-row Abi Burton, who will make her World Cup debut, hopes this tournament will boost opportunities for every nation. “They are inspirational women,” she said of Samoa. “I think the different types of women who have come to this World Cup is unbelievable but they all come because they love rugby.
“That is one thing we all share. It’s really special for them to be able to share their story and it does make you reflect on what we have and how much rugby has grown in this country. How we have the opportunities we do.
“Hopefully this World Cup will give everybody more opportunities in their nations. Hopefully it will go up a level here, up a level in Spain, up a level in Samoa. That is what we want to do. We want to make it go up another level for everybody.”
The Red Roses have not gone with a full-strength team in Northampton, making 13 changes from their opener. This was always the plan; the head coach, John Mitchell, communicates his team news to players as early as possible and the thinking is to give everyone game time early in the tournament. The squad will have achieved that bar one player, Holly Aitchison, who has been injured and will hope to make an appearance against Australia next Saturday.
No matter who is on the team sheet, England have been formidable in their 28-game winning streak but the attack coach Lou Meadows says there is still more to come. “I would hope to think there are always things you haven’t seen because we are constantly trying to improve and test our game, tactically switch up as much as possible,” Meadows said, before singling out the fly-half Helena Rowland.
“It’s special to work with someone like Helena and the rest of the back line are electric, as well as our very mobile forwards. We’ve got an opportunity here to really play the picture in front of us.
“We have not really seen a lot of what Samoa can do because WXV [the tournament held outside World Cup years] footage doesn’t reveal too much. They have worked really hard on their game and we are really excited for the opportunity they have got in this tournament. I think it is going to be an opportunity again for us to test another side to our game to prove we can physically dominate still against a side like Samoa but equally how we can adapt to the pictures in front of us.”
The two nations have played each other only twice before, with England winning on both occasions: 53-0 in 2005 and 65-3 in 2014. Marlie Packer and Natasha Hunt are the only two players in England’s matchday 23 to have played Samoa, in the victory at the 2014 World Cup. None of the Samoa players have faced the Red Roses.
Mitchell said for nations such as Samoa it is less about what the scoreline says and more about the performance and pride of playing for their country on a World Cup stage. Nothing epitomised that more than the viral video of Samoa’s Fa’asua Makisi after the team’s loss against Australia.
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Makisi’s mother, Petra, flew from New Zealand to surprise Makisi, getting off the plane at 8am and travelling straight to the Pool A match in Manchester. The player’s reaction was complete shock and she burst into tears when she spotted her mum post-match.
“She was holding up a flag behind her and I screamed,” Makisi said. “It was a natural response. I couldn’t believe she was here in England and I fully had an emotional breakdown in front of the crowd.
“My mum has been my rock and she’s been one of the main reasons I’ve been able to come here and to see her here was really overwhelming, but happy tears for sure! Being the type of supporter my mum is, she will be here for all of our pool games and until we go home.”
Samoa also believe this tournament is an opportunity for the players to be offered a chance to play for Premiership Women’s Rugby teams. Bella Milo, the Samoa defence coach, said: “I think for them to be able to gain experience overseas would be awesome. In order for us to play at that level, being able to play against players from here and also being able to be looked after in terms of a PWR contract and the facilities they have, I think our players would be able to continue to grow and hopefully bring those opportunities back to Samoa.”
England are expected to win but the margin will become the focus as the game goes on. The record score at a women’s Rugby World Cup is the Black Ferns’ 134-6 victory over Germany in 1998. It is one record that the competition will not want to see broken on Saturday.