Adventure with LEONE WHITES 7S RUGBY SQUAD ch. 5: Its currently May 30th, 2014 in Apia. The Samoa Independence 7s Rugby Tournament begins today and weve already got our match-ups. We are in Pool D (LE WELL Pool... yeah dont ask me what that means because I think I may misinterpret lol!) 1st our Leone Whites battle the Laumosooi #1 of Siumu then after we take on Tepatasi #1. We got up in the early morn and had our healthy breakfast again, which was growin on us by then lol, for me I was enjoying the misiluki bananas and the coconut strips with them hard boiled eggs and fresh baked bread ha ha ha! Everyone was in their happy mode at that moment and we were looking forward to heading over and playing at the famous Apia Park. Soon everyone was ready and the team made off for the park because we were told our first game was at 9 a.m. Our team didnt take any taxis or vans to the park because our humble funds were only enough to pay for the rugby tournament fees, meals, and our 4 day stay at the Pasefika Inn which included 4 rooms, 3 of which were all used and packed with our players and coaches and then 1 room which was given to Representative Puletu Koko who came along with the team as a senior cultural liaison for the Whites. Make no mistake, the Leone Whites literally walked up to 2 miles to and from the Apia Park each day we were meant to play, thats just as HARDCORE as it gets. Add to that the fact that it made for a good warm up before the games! Coaches Ene Kapisi, Arona Samoa, and I were heading over last as we got together a few things. Head coach Scott Moliaga had already taken the team over to the Park. I was getting all my media gear ready for the games camera, check, iphone, check, pen, check, Samoan talas, check. With everything set I was on my way out to catch up with the other two when suddenly nature friggin called smh... The one dreaded thing about our hotel was that it had no elevator so it was a rush back up to the third floor to handle business. I can tell you this, there is no better feeling then handling natures business bwahahahaha! Anyhow afterwards I found myself left behind! Not being one to be left behind I strapped my camcorder and phone into my shoulder carrying case and made a 2 mile bolt for Apia Park! It was tiring but I think with my adrenaline high combined with the training Ive been doing with the Whites 15s and 7s squad it all had me goin like the energizer bunny lol! I felt my fitness really holding up! I dont know how long it took me to get to the Park but it was in good time because as I arrived there was another team headed into the gates. I jumped in line with them and got myself a free pass (I wouldve told the gate keepers I was with the Leone Whites anyways if they did stopped me... which one did, yet I explained exactly that so I still got in lol!) Apia park was MONSTROUS! I was literally looking at the peak of Samoan Rugby! It was huge! There were 3 Rugby fields on the outside of the main stadium (inside is where all the finals and the Manu Samoa games were held). Crowds of people were entering the park in the early morning getting ready to witness their cherished teams go to rugby war on those very fields to claim the honored prizes which were the Cup, Bowl, Plate, Shield, and then the Spoon (I hope I got that order right.) As I made my way in I caught a glimpse of our Leone Whites team and made my way towards them. The skies were dark overhead and it looked like it was going to rain hard that day. I was thinking, hell yeah were bringing the rain today! On my walk over I see the numerous food stalls set up inside with the delicious smells of barbecued hotdogs and fried onions permeating the air, had me feeling hungry but I was there for one purpose and that was to capture the historical moment that our Leone Whites had invoked returning to Apia Park after more than 10 years to seek to play within the main field which has been more than 15 years since the predecessors of our team did so at a tournament known as Samoas King of Rugby Tournament. It was purely history in the making! I want to note that two other teams from American Samoa were entered into this tournament with us and they were the Marist Pago team and the development squad for American Samoas National Team Talavalu, which was called the TATOORS. American Samoa had three chances to make a showing in Samoas rugby games yet for us, this was our chance to show everyone our Rugby program for 7s rugby was legit and on the level! When it was finally time to get to rumbling we had our head coach and assistant coaches prep the team with reminders and words of encouragement and then we were off to do battle. Little do we know that this day was set to be one of the longest grueling days of our rugby lives so far. (I was able to video record all our games so Ill be posting them up on my gumroad account which you can all download for a very small fee with any valid credit card. It will help keep me in business so I can report on more adventures :) Ill update everyone on its link as soon as its ready.) Anyhow, in our first match-up against Laumosooi #1 (the better of the two Laumosooi teams), everything looked like we were evenly matched at first. We held out in the first half but as the seconds started winding down Laumosooi found a chink in our armor and exploited it. We werent used to the softness of the field, which made for bad footing for our boys, and we also werent used to the many whistles blowing around us since other rugby matches were going on, it really threw off our game by causing us to pause every now and then. In the end Laumosooi got in a score on us and the game was at 5 to 0 at the half. We huddled for 7 minutes while head coach Scott did minor adjustments and then sent our boys back in for the second half. As our game started again we found ourselves with a break away set up by our Vaalele Autagavaia to Maugalei Veavea who got to stepping and almost found himself at the try line until he offloaded to Kapeneta Sefuiva who dropped the ball causing a knock-on for our Whites. This set up a scrum for Laumosooi so we had Pepe Silalafaele, Kririfi Ofagalilo, and Tali Tauese set up as our forwards while Komiti Sosene played our half back, when Laumosooi threw in the ball we pounded the scrum which caused them to get off a bad pass that was picked off by our Tauese who went down right on the goal line causing us to stand off. It was at that moment our Silalafaele did a pick and run exploiting the opposing teams weak-side and diving in for the try at the far corner! Now we were at 5 to 5! Silalafaele was also our kicker so he got up and gave his best for a corner kick but due to him being a little winded from the encounter his kick was wide and we didnt get the extra points to put us in the lead. Before we could celebrate though the other team came back with a vengeance (and a questionable referees call if you ask me). Bad tackling also on our part gave them an edge which put them on the try line for the second time. Their kicker didnt fare as well but they were now up 10 to our 5. After they kicked off to us a botched catch by our Tauese gave the Laumosooi a chance to get the ball back and beat our boys to the try line again about less than 3 minutes after their first try. They scored between the posts giving their kicker good field position to put them up 17 to our 5. We werent done yet though. We got back the ball and began our push to the try line. In progress the alert for the end of 2nd half started after the opposing team kicked us the ball but we kept it alive moving forward. A couple of penalties on Laumoosoi gave us good field position which helped our Vaalele Autagavaia set up a try. Silalafele was then brought up to place his kick a little to the left of the posts, sadly his kick was a little to much to the right and didnt go in. In the end Laumosooi won 17 to our 10. A very tough defeat because we knew there were things we could have done better and we knew we were better too. Honestly I believe this is where our nightmarish day at the tournament really began. It was a long wait before our second game and the heat and rain wasnt doing us any favors, add to that we were camped in a muddy spot with no benches and people pissing in the back of us (because we were literally under the bleachers) it was hell! Our team got a brief scolding from our coaches telling them they were better than how they performed out there and our team knew it. Something appeared to be bogging them down, what that something was no one wanted to say but it was just as heavy as the storm clouds that were overhead. Our second match-up was against the Tepatasi Rugby Club, they had two teams and this was their team #1 which I was told was their better team (keep this in mind for when I come back to this team for my next chapter) This game was brutal rugby as both teams were scoreless for a while until Tepatasi exploited our bad tackling and got away with a try in the first half right before the half time alert. It was at the far corner so their kicker wasnt able to get in the extra points but that put them up 5 to our 0. When the second half came around we were still die hard as ever but since it was raining that day making the field and ball really slippery with all the mud, add to that the long wait before this match up, we were feeling the grind. That didnt stop the Leone Whites from being soldiers and pulling through. We got a try as our improved tackling and passing saved us by getting back the ball and delivering it into the hands of our very own Kapeneta Sefuiva with an easy corner try. Obviously though a lot of our team members were banged up with injuries and getting winded from the long day. Silalafaele put up our kick but it didnt make it through. We were now tied at 5 to 5. More brutal rugby ensued and as the seconds winded down it seemed we were going to pull off a tie on this game but after the alert to the end of second half Tepatasi got a break on us using a penalty we committed and they ran right through our winded boys to get the try between the posts. Their kicker placed it in and they won against us in overtime seconds 12 to our 5. This loss was very hard for us to swallow because again we knew we had that game within our grasps. The boys came back with their heads held low which was a bit annoying to our coaches because this wasnt how our team was supposed to be. Our coaches got really serious and tried to pull our boys out of the funk they were feeling. We were all feeling it, it was like the white elephant in the room kinda thing but no one was saying anything. Before long we went back to waiting in our muddy spot and watching as the other teams from American Samoa won games in their pools to move up to the next brackets. We lost all of our pool games and had one more game left for the day. That last game was against a village named Kuamoa (I need to confirm this) but they gave us a real good thrashing leaving a very bad taste in our mouths. We didnt have many spares for substitutions and most our players were already very injured and tired by then, I for one being the trainer and logistics coach was feeling the pain for the boys because I knew exactly what their injuries were and felt like. Dislocated shoulders, twisted ankles, torn skin, shattered elbows. We had it all. We did what little we could with the first aid we had, thankful for the Samoa Red Cross medics that were available at a moments notice on the field. It was a very low moment for our Leone Whites 7s Rugby team, coaches, staff, and supporters who were all present there. That night was a depressing night and many of our members, coaches included, had their own ways of dealing with the depression. I myself locked up in my room and contemplated the events of the day. My roommates were all out but I knew that our team was going to pull out of this funk. They had to. Weve come so far and suffered and labored through rain, wind, heat, and sun to get to where we are with the hopes and support of many, including the village of Leone and its neighboring villages of our players, we couldnt end it here. We didnt know if we were eliminated from the tournament but I was hearing that we were going to get to play one more game to decide if we are still in. It was for the last trophy being the SPOON trophy. Seemingly we were only going to be given one more shot. Now this is where the LEONE WHITES 7S RUGBY TEAM STORY becomes something like out of legend! Just as the mythical Phoenix perishes, so does it rise again from the ashes! Just as Lancelot of the Round Table fights with a shield of one stripe the first day so does his strength triple the next day when he fights with a three striped shield! And just as we have tasted the bitterness of utter defeat, we are set to RISE again to GLORY! The day of May 30th, 2014 in Apia was not going to be the end of the Leone Whites neither the end of my Samoa Independence 7s rugby adventure story! You can count on that! In the finale we were going to have the last laugh...
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 10:42:14 +0000
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