Samoa must use disappointing opener as motivation insists Jarome Luai

Josh McAllister 16 Oct 2022 8:58 AM

Samoa must use the their opening disappointing defeat against England as motivation according to star man Jarome Luai.

Matt Parish’s side helped kick-off the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in front of a crowd of 43,119 at St James’ Park, Newcastle.

However, things didn’t go as planned for the favourites, as England claimed an impressive 60-6 win on home soil in a dream start for Shaun Wane’s men

Luai insisted his team-mates will use the “sh**” losing feeling as a motivation, with Greece and France to play next respectively in the group stages.

Jarome Luai: We can only get better

“There’s a lot of hype around Samoa and this World Cup and what we’re hoping to do, and we’re disappointed,” Luai told Love Rugby League.

“But we’ve got to move on and remember this feeling in the games to come, so we’re pretty excited to move on.

“We’re all pros, we play NRL and losing happens there. We have the experience in how it goes. The beauty of it is, we have next week to bounce back.

“We didn’t have a warm-up game like the other teams did. That’s our base mark and where we stand. After that result, we can only get better.”

READ: England 60-6 Samoa: Dream for hosts inside St James’ Park

Samoa suffered three potential tournament-ending injuries during the televised clash. Tyrone May was stretchered from the field early in the second half with a dislocated hip.

Braden Hamlin-Uele came off during the first half with a calf injury, while Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow suffered a syndesmosis injury and looks likely to miss the rest of the campaign in England.

The star-studded Samoa side will have the chance to bounce back from the loss next Sunday against Greece, featuring in Group A of the tournament.

‘It’s motivation for us’

“We are sore but when you put that Samoa jersey on, you’re playing for more than yourself. That’s the attitude that we have. You’re playing for your people. Hopefully there’s some wins in the games to come.

“We don’t know too much about Greece. I think in every game that we’re going to play, we’ve got to focus on ourselves and get better with our combinations and hopefully get a lot more training sessions throughout the week. We haven’t had too many, so we’ll get into that and bounce back next week.

“Remembering this feeling. It’s pretty sh** and we don’t want to feel like this again. It’s motivation for us.”