Rugby union in American Samoa is a growing sport.

Governing body

The governing body is the American Samoa Rugby Union (ASRU), which is a full member of both the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU) and the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

(IRB).

History

Rugby union has been played in

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

since at least 1924, but the national development of the game has been overshadowed by the popularity of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

since the 1970s. The ASRU was only established in 1990, and did not become fully affiliated to the IRB until 2012. As such, unlike neighbouring

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, American Samoa has had limited international rugby competition. While Samoa, whose team calls itself "Manu Samoa" meaning the Samoan team, has reached the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

on a number of occasions, most of American Samoa's matches have been played at the South Pacific Games.

National team (15s)

American Samoa played some international rugby matches before being affiliated to IRB, including winning the rugby 15's silver medal at the

1991 South Pacific Games The 1991 South Pacific Games, held from 7–21 September 1991 at Port Moresby and Lae in Papua New Guinea, was the ninth edition of the South Pacific Games. This was the first time that events at one games had been held in two cities. The decision ...

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

. The American Samoan team is known as the "Talavalu"—named after a traditional ironwood war club with eight carved diamond-shaped teeth on one edge.

National team (7s)

Since 2010, the ASRU has focused more of its attention toward the seven-a-side form of the game. American Samoa competed at the Pacific Games Rugby 7s in 2011, and the Oceania Rugby 7s in 2011 and 2012.

External links

IRB American Samoa page

Oceania nations, American Samoa

Reference list