Skipper Vui hails Samoan fighting spirit
SAMOAN captain Chris Vui surveyed his patchwork side in the Murrayfield dressing room after yesterday’s stunning 44-38 loss to Scotland and told them to be proud.
Speaking to the media, the Bristol lock said he had worked hard to push aside thoughts of the Samoan Rugby Union going bankrupt in the past week, and fears around whether this could be their last tour of the UK.
Vui believes the players showed what it means to them to represent their small Pacific Island nation.
He said: ‘I have told them that I felt like even though the result didn’t come our way, this game has almost put us back on the map.
‘We’re a proud rugby nation and I thought we really showed that, even though we lost.
‘Definitely, our emotions were up for this. It was a close game coming into the last five minutes and we were right into it. It could have gone either way, so the boys were obviously disappointed.
‘They [Scotland] had an awesome start, I guess. But the fight that we had — I think we were down 22 points at one point — and that fight that we had in the second half showed just how much our new generation has pride in wearing the jersey.
‘At the beginning of the week we said if everyone can buy into what we’re trying to do here as a team, the result will come. Even though it didn’t come, I felt it was a win for us, because that brotherhood was there.
‘That stuff [Samoa RU bankruptcy], we’ve absolutely pushed aside. We’ve only been together three days — most of our boys are new — but we’ve gelled well.’
His opposite number, Scotland skipper John Barclay, praised the Samoans’ spirit, and their ability to stop Gregor Townsend’s men playing the fast rugby they set out to through the second half.
‘Samoa are a very good side,’ he said, ‘but it was a funny and frustrating game in that we didn’t really get into our flow to play our continuity stuff. We would have liked to kick-on, but we obviously didn’t play well enough to do that.
‘We’re happy to score 44 points and to play some good stuff but I think expectations within the group are much higher, so we are quite disappointed with aspects of the performance.
‘It’s nice to win, nice for four guys to come and get their first caps and sell out Murrayfield and there were a lot of positives in our play, but maybe that [disappointment in performance] is a good thing and will narrow our focus going into next week.’