Samoa will unleash their wrecking-ball winger Alesana Tuilaga against win-less Namibia as they make their bow at the World Cup in Rotorua today.
The hulking Leicester Tigers winger left Australia red-faced with a runaway 70m try off a turnover in Samoa’s ground-breaking 32-23 upset in Sydney in July.
The powerful Tuilaga has an impressive strike rate of 12 tries from his 22 Tests and threatens to be trouble for Namibia, who are looking to end a 12-match World Cup losing streak.
Photo: AFP
Tuilagi, 30, is the only one of three brothers selected in Samoa’s 2007 World Cup squad who is returning this year. A fourth younger brother, Manu, is playing in his debut World Cup, but for England.
Tuilagi typifies the sheer physical threat of Samoa, who are confident of making an impact in New Zealand after nine wins in their 20 previous World Cup games, including the scalps of Wales twice in 1991 and 1999.
“As a fullback, you’re well aware of his potential, so you want to get him the ball as much as you can,” teammate Paul Williams said.
Namibia indicated they may counter Tuilagi’s menace by kicking in behind him during the Rotorua game.
“They have big wingers. Coach told us to play behind them. They don’t want to turn around and walk back,” scrumhalf Eugene Jantjies said.
Samoa are in arguably the toughest pool at the World Cup with South Africa, Wales, Fiji and Namibia.
Samoa skipper and hooker Mahonri Schwalger said with the backing of the sizable Samoan community in New Zealand his team are keen to get underway.
“It’s our first game, so the boys are pretty itchy to get out there,” Schwalger said. “I think there’s more Samoans in New Zealand than back home, so we’re looking forward to a lot of people coming out to support us. It will probably help us a lot.”
While Samoa are to make their first appearance at this year’s tournament, Namibia provided Fiji with a stiff challenge, before going down 42-25 in Rotorua on Saturday. Namibia coach Johan Diergaardt has made four changes from the Fiji loss.
“Up front we wanted to go more physical and in the back we wanted more speed,” Diergaardt said. “We have absolutely not reached our potential. People say we have gone above their expectations, but we have not gone above our expectations.”
Flanker Jacques Nieuwenhuis said Namibia were looking forward to the challenge of playing Samoa.
“They’re not like old Samoa sides where they play all flashy. They’re more structured now, they’re in excellent condition and most of the team play professional rugby now,” Nieuwenhuis said.
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