amoa's hard-talking prime minister has launched a fresh attack on his country's rugby team and said they've got to stop showing off before they get any pay rises.Tuilaepa Sa'ilele, who is also chairman of the Samoan Rugby Union, has also hit out at the Manu Samoan team for their failed bid to get rid of board members.
Last month the team threatened to boycott their match against England but were told by World Rugby – the new name for the International Rugby Board (IRB) – if they did that next year's All Black match in Apia would be cancelled.
Tuilaepa now says the team had a point over the Twickenham match.
The Samoa vs England game had ticket sales worth WSD$8 million (NZ$4 million) of which Samoa got just a "lousy €$50,000 compared to $1 million that was given to the All Blacks."
His comments came as Samoa named its sevens team for the Dubai and South African legs.
It includes former New Zealand sevens and Chiefs player Tim Nanai-Williams.
According to the
Samoa Observer Tuilaepa cautioned the players against showing off.
He reminded them that many opportunities are lost because some players simply think they know it all.
"Most of the time you haven't reached the try line and yet you are already walking," Tuilaepa said.
"Stop being show offs. The spectators despise it when they see it."
He told the players to ignore the media.
He said in his reign he had only ever made two recommendations to the selectors.
One of them, he said, was over the former New Zealand player Tasesa James, now with the English club Sale, for the 2011 World Cup game against Wales. To this day he is blamed for the loss of that match.
"I advised them not to pick Tasesa," the prime minister said.
"They did not accept my advice and you all know that it was through Tasesa that we lost the game."
He urged sponsors to use the sevens side.
"Peanuts are for monkeys. If you give us ten times the amount that you've given us, the government will salute you."
Manu Samoa players have not said publicly who they want removed from the rugby board but Tuilaepa named them today - board member and member of parliament Lefau Harry Schuster and official Tuala Mathew Vaea.
The prime minister said he was not going to replace them as they were valuable and it had nothing to do with the players.
"It is not for them to decide," he said.
"Their duty is to play and win. If they win, win, win, it makes it a lot easier for us to find sponsors to help us."