Manuma Samoa is a professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team based in

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 ...

that plays in the

Global Rapid Rugby Global Rapid Rugby was an international rugby union competition that launched a showcase series for six professional teams in 2019, played in locations across the Asia-Pacific region. Rapid Rugby matches are slightly shorter than the tradition ...

competition. Founded in 2019 as Kagifa Samoa, the team is backed by the

Samoa Rugby Union Rugby Samoa ( sm, Lakapi Samoa) is the governing body of the sport of rugby union in Samoa. Founded as the ''Apia Rugby Union'' in 1924, it was affiliated to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union the same year.Jones, p10 It joined the Internationa ...

Name and logo

Manuma, in Samoan, refers to the

many-colored fruit dove The many-colored fruit dove (''Ptilinopus perousii''), also known as ''manuma'' in the Samoan language, is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It occurs on islands in the south-west Pacific Ocean where it is found in Fiji, the Samoan Isla ...

(''Ptilinopus perousii''), a small dove found in that country. The team logo includes the head of a manuma bird in profile beneath the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

in white on a blue background.

History

Kagifa Samoa

The Kagifa Samoa team was established in 2019 and competed in the Pacific Showcase series during the inaugural year of Global Rapid Rugby. In Samoan colloquial speech, a kagifa refers to an enormous wild fish or shark that wreaked havoc in Polynesian mythical legend, and which is more formally referred to as tanifa. The team was backed by Pacific Sports International in partnership with the

. The 2019 squad included Samoan-based players, Tongans, Fijians and New Zealanders as well as Samoan-eligible players based in Australia and New Zealand.

Manuma Samoa

The team was renamed Manuma Samoa with the backing of the Samoa Rugby Union for the 2020 Rapid Rugby season.

Home field

Manuma Samoa plays home games at Apia Park Stadium. Due to construction at Apia Park in 2019 for the

Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently in 2019 in Apia, Samoa. The Games were ...

, the team's home matches for the Rapid Rugby Pacific Showcase were moved to Pukekohe Stadium in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and

Ballymore Stadium Ballymore is a rugby union stadium situated in Herston, Queensland, Herston, a suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is the headquarters of Queensland Rugby Union and was the home ground of the Brisbane City (rugby team), Brisbane City team in the ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Squad

The Manuma squad for the 2020 Global Rapid Rugby season:

Records

Season standings

Global Rapid Rugby Notes:

2019 Rapid Rugby matches in the Pacific showcase.

Head coaches

Darryl Suasua Darryl Bill Suasua (born 1966) is the current head coach of Counties Manukau in the Mitre 10 Cup, and a former coach of the New Zealand women's national rugby union team. He coached the Black Ferns for seven years in which they won both the 1998 ...

(2019) *

Brian Lima Brian Pala Lima '' OM'' (born 25 January 1972) is a Samoan former rugby union player who was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame in 2011. He earned the nickname of "The Chiropractor" for his shuddering hits both on and off the pitch that supposedl ...

(2020)

Captains

Leon Fukofuka Leon Fukofuka (born 8 September 1994) is a rugby union player who currently plays as a halfback for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and is a international. Early career The son of former Auckland and Prop, Kalau Fukofuka, Leon was ...