First there was the hand, now there is the boot!
Cassie Siataga's boot a game changer for Samoa!
Please enjoy Bailey and I, equal parts hungover and stressed watching this final play.
In 2022, Cassie Siataga’s boot brought the scores level in the Oceania Women’s Championship match against Fiji with 12 minutes to play. Fiji then made a miracle run that saw them score in the 80th minute to take the win.
In 2023, Cassie Siataga’s boot brought the scores level in the Oceania Women’s Championship match against Fiji with 19 minutes to play. This time, she followed it up with penalty giving Manusina a slight lead with 13 minutes on the clock. Fiji then made a miracle run that saw them score in the 78th minute, surely this would take the win.
The referee judged there was was enough time left on the clock for a kick off. Fiji judged that there was no time left when they received it, so they kicked it out.
They were wrong.
There is only time now for the lineout. The rain is pelting down. The crowd noise is exactly what you would expect. The ball comes in and… it’s loose! Wait! A penalty! A lineout penalty and now Cassie Siataga’s boot has a chance from the sideline.
She lines it up and we all hold our breath. Her team tells her “No pressure, we all love you.”. Well, we all love Cassie even more as she nails the kick and takes the win. This rivalry now firmly established as the most entertaining match up in Southern Hemisphere women’s rugby.
Cassie Siataga shouldn’t have even been on the field. She was hit heavily just four days earlier in the match against Papua New Guinea. The collision looked bad enough it seemed unlikely that she would be able to bounce back. This injury it seemed, the icing on the cake of shit luck Manusina had been served in the last forever.
The Samoan side missed their chance at qualification for the last Rugby World Cup due to pandemics. First they were disrupted due to measles ripping through Tonga, delaying their match for the repêchage spot until 2020. Manusina were then unable to attend the repêchage tournament in 2022 due to Covid travel restrictions.
It needs to be said that such changes to the timelines, while necessary to protect people’s health, were felt most acutely by amateur sides. The tier two nations hold less sway in negotiations with larger powers and have even less resource available to be agile. Not being able to send a team to the repêchage robbed all of us rugby fans.
This tournament, being hosted in New Zealand, was as close to a home tournament as Samoa is likely to get. It was also a crucial moment of visibility for the women’s game that Samoan women’s rugby missed out on. The case for a Moana Pasifika women’s side could have been more firmly made, were the team made up of players due to feature in the World Cup.
Instead, Samoa has been sidelined, along with Tonga and Papua New Guinea, watching Fiji make huge progress. Fijiana collected Olympic medals, became Rugby World Cup darlings and Super W Australia champions. Meanwhile, Manusina were lobbying New Zealand and Australian Rugby, eventually able to sprinkle some of their talent through the Super W sides. They were then able to gather in camp for just two days before heading to face their old foes at this year’s Oceania Women’s Championship.
With this backdrop, you can better understand just how powerful Cassie Siataga’s boot was in that moment. You also have to acknowledge the leadership of Sui Pauaraisa, overcome at the final whistle and over every single ruck hunting for turnovers. I also want to mention my old teammate, Nina Foaese, who has helped set the standard for Wellington Women’s Rugby for as long as I can remember. It was her who I saw urgently calling her team in, when Fiji scored that final try, to help them hold on to hope.
But it’s the boot, Cassie Siataga’s boot, that kicked Manusina up into WXV2, to play against the likes of Scotland and Japan. That has kicked a clearer path to the next World Cup. And that has potentially kicked off the next chapter in Samoan women’s rugby.
GAME ON!
With you,
Alice