RUGBY/Samoa v Ireland (3.30 a.m. tomorrow morning): Trevor Leota is a brick outhouse with arms and legs. He is also a cult figure, not just at Wasps but here in Samoa. John O'Sullivan in Apia reports.
Tomorrow morning, Irish time, he'll take his place at hooker in the Manu Samoa side that take on Ireland in the Test match at Apia Park.
A charming individual off the pitch, he is noted for the ferocity of his tackling on it. His philosophy is simple. "I just love tackling people but I don't have any special technique. I just throw myself at the opponent not thinking of my own health. Also it is a matter of pride and passion."
He symbolises the physicality of Pacific Islanders, whether it be Tongans, Fijians or Samoans. In conversation with a Tongan player after last week's Test match in Nuku'alofa, he explained their love of the breakfast emptying, teeth-rattling hits. "It's a matter of tackling as hard as you can. If you are hit then you must show no signs of pain. To do so is to lose face in the eyes of your opponent," he said.
Leota is hugely popular and not just for his contribution on the pitch. He is one of the few players to have spurned the silver fern of New Zealand in favour of Manu Samoa. Born and raised in West Auckland, he was offered national underage representative honours with New Zealand but chose to play for Samoa under-19s and under-21s before being capped by the senior national side. In explaining his decision he referred to his sense of heritage and a desire to honour his family roots. Anybody who can remember playing for Massey under-threes takes their rugby seriously.
Samoa enter this Test off the back of a hugely successful short tour to New Zealand and Australia. They hammered the New Zealand Divisional XV, convincingly beat New South Wales and, playing their second match in three days, were pipped 43-42 by the Queensland Reds.
They make three changes from that team, one enforced. Tanner Vili is out with a hamstring problem and his place at outhalf is taken by the experienced Earl Va'a; both have played rugby in Britain and have lined out against Ireland before.
Jeremy Tomuli comes in for Tomato Leupolu at prop while Ron Fanuatanu makes his Test debut in place of Dominic Feaunati on the wing. An Ireland Development team lost here in Apia six years ago while Western Samoa hammered a Murray Kidd-coached Irish side at Lansdowne Road.
Ireland captain Reggie Corrigan would prefer not to become another notch on a Samoan belt from which hangs the scalps of Welsh teams, at two different World Cups.
"We are coming to the end of the tour," says Corrigan. "Guys are thinking beyond Friday; they're thinking of the flight home, going on their holidays, meeting up with their loved ones and all that kind of stuff. That can distract you from the job in hand and it's what we have to guard against.
"They're obviously going to be better than Tonga but if we're going to compete at World Cup and be the type of side we're talking of being then we have to put the likes of this opposition away. We could look for excuses in the weather. It's certainly not what we're used to or conditioned for but it will be similar to those temperatures we could experience later in the year in Australia.
"There are excuses there if we want to go and find them but we have to make sure that no one is looking for excuses or a way out."
Last Saturday's victory over Tonga highlighted one or two shortcomings but these have been rectified, according to the skipper. "The gameplan has changed. We had a look at things we were doing that just weren't working. We have manipulated certain things and the upshot is probably a more basic gameplan.
"I didn't have a problem with our defence against Tonga. Samoa play a different type of game. Tonga got the ball wide very quickly. Samoa tend to run it up the 10 channel and back inside; they also come back the blind (side) a lot. Tonga were more side to side."
Forewarned, Ireland must set about winning a match that would rank with many of their 11 victories this season. The temperature here is a sweltering 92 degrees, the humidity equally debilitating, and they face a Samoan team that plays a structured game under the baton of New Zealand-born coach John Boe and his assistant, former All Black legend Michael Jones.
The changes coach Eddie O'Sullivan has made should, in theory, strengthen the team. As in last week's Test, this match is about attitude. If players stray mentally for even a nanosecond, it will be ruthlessly exploited. Ireland need to dictate the game in the conditions and can ill afford the error rate that saw them virtually without the ball for 30 minutes in the first half of last week's Test.
The visitors are likely to use a fairly orthodox gameplan of kicking for position before looking to take contact. This is a ridiculously tough assignment at the end of a long and demanding season.
Defeat would hardly be catastrophic but a victory would constitute a huge morale boost to confirm the patterns and structures they are being asked to play maximise the talent available and can be successful in the big matches.
MANU SAMOA: F Fili; L Fa'atu, D Rasmussen, B Lima, R Fanuatanu; E Va'a, D Tyrell; K Lealamanua, T Leota, J Tomuli; O Palepoi, L Lafaialii; K Viliamu, S Sititi (capt), M Fa'asavalu. Replacements: S So'oialo, D Feaunati, G Elisara, J Meredith, T Leupolu, D Tuiavi'i.
IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); J Kelly (Munster), M Mullins (Munster), J Bell (Ulster) A Horgan (Munster); R O'Gara (Munster), G Easterby (Rotherham); M Horan (Munster), S Byrne (Leinster), R Corrigan (Leinster, capt); L Cullen (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster); S Easterby (Llanelli), E Miller (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster). Replacements: P Shield (Ulster), E Byrne (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), A McCullen (Leinster), B O'Meara (Leinster), P Burke (Harlequins), G D'Arcy (Leinster).
Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).
