Spain Loaded With Argentines to face Samoa

Spain open their July tour of Oceania on Saturday. Los Leones will face Samoa at Apia Park, in the Samoan capital city, in what is to be the first of nine test matches on Saturday. Two other matches will involve the Americas with Chile vs Belgium, Argentina vs France, Paraguay vs Hong Kong all taking place.

Spain’s match in Apia will provide a valuable opportunity for coaches and players as Spain look to rebound from the disappointments of disqualifications from past Rugby World Cups. Los Leones qualified for France 2019 only to subsequently be pulled due to an eligibility controversy in which a South African player lied.

 

2024 SAMOA VS SPAIN – LINE-UPS

SAMOA
1 Aki Seiuli, 2 Sama Malolo, 3 Marco Fepulea’i, 4 Ben Nee-Nee, 5 Sam Slade, 6 Theo McFarland (capt.), 7 Murphy Taramai, 8 Olajuwon Noa, 9 Melani Matavao, 10 D’Angelo Leuila, 11 Nigel Ah-Wong, 12 Danny Toala, 13 Stacey Ili, 14 Owen Niue, 15 Duncan Paia’aua

Replacements: 16 Andrew Tuala, 17 Tietie Tuimauga, 18 Lolani Faleiva, 19 Michael Curry, 20 Iakopo Petelo Mapu, 21 Ereatara Enari, 22 Afa Moleli, 23 Pisi Leilua

SPAIN
1 Bernardo Vázquez, 2 Santiago Ovejero, 3 Lucas Santamaría, 4 Ignacio Piñeiro, 5 Asier Usarraga, 6 Mario Pichardie (capt.), 7 Raphael Nieto, 8 Ekain Imaz, 9 Estanislao Bay, 10 Gonzalo Vinuesa, 11 Pau Aira, 12 Iñaki Mateu, 13 Alex Alonso, 14 Gauthier Minguillón, 15 John-Wessel Bell

Replacements: 16 Álvaro García, 17 Titi Futeu, 18 Hugo Pirlet, 19 Alex Suárez, 20 Vicente Boronat, 21 Pablo Pérez, 22 Bautista Güemes, 23 Facundo López Bontempo

LOOSENING NOT TIGHTENING ELIGIBILITY LAWS

Spain’s disqualification did not see a tightening of eligibility laws; rather, against this backdrop were player eligibility changes. The outcome of these saw many players able to change allegiance. Giants of the sport Scotland and Wales selected Australia and England players for the World Cup.

Samoa was a major benefactor of the changes. All Blacks and Wallabies became eligible and played for Samoa against debutants Chile. The World Cup roster featured Charlie Faumuina who won the 2015 World Cup and earned 50 caps for his native New Zealand. Steven Luatua, and Lima Sopoaga were also former All Blacks representing Samoa.

Christian Leali’ifano played for Australia vs Uruguay at RWC 2019. Four years later he played for Samoa against Chile and Argentina at the next Rugby World Cup. Leali’ifano was one of 22 of Samoa’s 33 players who was a product of Australia or New Zealand. In short, the outcome of “recapturing” was Samoa acquired players with Samoan ancestry rather than players lost from Samoa to rivals.

While those benefitting welcomed the eligibility law changes, they were certainly not popular worldwide. Homegrown teams did not benefit at all; in fact, 2016-2023 Uruguayan Head Coach Esteban Meneses slammed the changes as detrimental to progress.

Authorities in South America have been on record in saying that they believe Bill Beaumont’s management of the situation to be political and not sporting. He exchanged favors for votes. It is very hard to argue against this given how World Rugby has handled eligibility during Beaumont’s present term in office.

WORLD CUP 2023 SMASHES FOREIGN-BORN PLAYERS RECORD

Rugby World Cup 2023 saw a record number of foreign-born players. During Bill Beaumont’s years in charge of World rugby the quantity of Foreign-Born players at Rugby World Cups have continued to increase. There were 130 at Rugby World Cup 2015 in England and Wales, 144 at Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan and 163 at Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

5/33 (15%) of Samoa’s roster in France was homegrown. Samoa’s foreign-born numbers increased from 13 at Rugby World Cup 2015 to 18 at Rugby World Cup 2019 and 24 at Rugby World Cup 2023. Tonga’s numbers increased from 12 to 19 to 23 for the three tournaments. Romania went from 4 in 2015 to 12 in 2023.

South America had three teams at Rugby World Cup 2023. 100% of the rosters of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay were made up of homegrown players.

 

SPAIN’S ARGENTINES & SAMOA’S MEN

Spain’s line-up to face Samoa in Apia has many foreign-born players. Front-rower Bernardo Vázquez will make his test debut for Spain. He and hooker Santiago Ovejero are both Argentines. Scrum-half Estanislao Bay is Argentine as is center Iñaki Mateu, though Mateu is a homegrown Spanish player.

The replacements include three Argentines. They are fly half Bautista Güemes, flanker Vicente Boronat and Facundo López Bontempo. Like Mateu, López Bontempo is a homegrown Spanish player.

Meanwhile, a minority of Samoa’s 23 players to face Spain are homegrown and a high percentage are foreign-born. Theo McFarland, Melani Matavao, Owen Niue, Pisi Leilua and Tietie Tuimauga are from Samoa.

Aki Seiuli, Sama Malolo, Marco Fepulea’i, Ben Nee-Nee, Sam Slade, Murphy Taramai, Olajuwon Noa, D’Angelo Leuila, Nigel Ah-Wong, Danny Toala, Stacey Ili, Duncan Paia’aua, Andrew Tuala, Lolani Faleiva, Ereatara Enari, Afa Moleli are not from Samoa. Michael Curry and Iakopo Petelo Mapu moved to New Zealand as teenagers.