After making their second major rugby league final, Samoa may have missed out once more on claiming some silverware, but Toa fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is confident the best is yet to come.
Samoa looked on track to securing an upset as they surged to a 12-0 lead in the first half of the Pacific Championships Cup final against New Zealand, but fell away in the second as the Kiwis claimed their second title.
“Josh Papalii said it well, we can’t let that moment define what we’re starting, what we’re building here for Toa Samoa,” Tuivasa-Sheck told NRL.com.
“The support, the fans, the family, the prayers that we receive from everyone, it’s been unreal and full credit to them, they made this competition.
“Our Kiwis, Tonga and Samoa fans turning up. I really enjoyed the campaign too but really gutted with our results.
“(But) our team is building each year, it’s got quality players coming up, quality staff as well.
“The fans are right behind us, so there’s no reason for us not to go out and do something special for Samoa in the World Cup.”
Next year’s Rugby League World Cup will be staged across Australia and Papua New Guinea and if the crowds over the four weeks of 158,041 in Auckland, Brisbane, Port Moresby and Sydney are anything to go by, it will be one of the best-supported yet.
“This Pacific Championship campaign alone has shown me what we’ve done, the people that turned up; we sold out stadiums, if that’s not saying something, then I don’t know what else we can do,” Tuivasa-Sheck said.
“The Cookies they played earlier (in a World Cup qualifier against South Africa), they’re awesome.
“Tonga’s fans, the Red Sea, they always turn up, and Kiwis, they’ve got a good backing.
“Hopefully there’s more next year.
“Big credit to the crowds, we can’t fault them, they made this competition.
“They made us turn up and put on a show and we just can’t credit them enough.
“Hopefully they come back next year and we do even bigger.”
This season saw superstar prop Payne Haas pledge his allegiance to Toa Samoa, with the premiership-winning prop putting in monumental performances in the blue jersey that see him a contender for the Golden Boot.
Next year, Origin fullback Hamiso Tabuia-Fidow has pledged to represent Samoa once again for the World Cup, with the prospect of more stars putting their hands up for Samoa to come.
“We have quality players coming into the side and I sit here and think ‘do I even make the side’, you know? But that’s what you want for Samoa,” Tuivasa-Sheck said.
“You want the best putting their hand up, so we’ll see what happens.
“(For this Pacific Championships campaign) the young boys coming in, they would have been around some players who have won finals, have been players of the year – they’ve gained a lot of experience about the way they operate.
“Being part of this, it makes them hungrier and that’s what we want heading into next year.”
