Samoa coach accuses referees of ‘unconscious bias’ against tier two sides

Samoa’s head coach and captain have accused international referees of holding an “unconscious bias” against the Pacific island and other tier two teams in the World Cup.

Samoa were penalised 14 times in their 18-17 defeat, five more than England, and were shown the only yellow card. Coach Seilala Mapusua rejected the idea that his players needed more exposure to Test match referees, and argued that the problem was his players were treated being differently.

“The guys that play in blue jerseys play in the same [domestic] tournaments that the guys in white jerseys play in. We’ve got guys playing in the Premiership, we’ve got guys playing in the Top 14, they’re exposed to the same referees. So I don’t know whether it is our guys who need more time with the referees. Maybe it is the referees who need more time with our guys.”

Tumua Manu was sent to the sin-bin, the eighth World Cup game in a row in which Samoa’s have been shown a yellow. In this tournament, they have conceded 12 penalties per match, 1.5 above the competition average. “I’ve asked the question in the past whether referees have an unconscious bias against tier-two teams when they are playing tier one teams,” Mapusua added. “Because these players are all playing in the same competitions.”

It was, he said, something that he believed had been a problem in the game since his own playing days. “I don’t think it is anyone’s fault, it’s what I’ve seen in our game for the last I don’t know how many years.”

Samoa’s captain, Michael Ala’alatoa, was even more specific, and suggested the bias worked against the Pacific teams in particular. “I agree with what coach is saying, from what I’ve seen, from all Pacific nations in the past you need to make the most of every opportunity you have, you need to nail everything, to get an outcome, and if you don’t it is going to cost you, whether it is an error or a skill error or giving penalties away.”

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Mapusua also repeated his calls for more fixtures against tier-one sides outside of the World Cup.

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England’s Steve Borthwick refused to be drawn on either topic. He preferred to concentrate on the “learnings” from the match. “Was it the performance we wanted? No.” Borthwick said. “There were areas that were very scrappy, and lots of areas where we weren’t at the required standard.” But he praised the character of his side, and insisted “a really tough Test” was exactly the sort of match they wanted ahead of the knockout stages. He was about as convincing as his side had been.