Samoa A national rugby union team Samoa A national rugby union team Samoa A is a national representative rugby union team of the Samoan rugby union. It is the second-tier side to the Samoa national rugby union team. Samoa A competes in the Pacific Challenge, formerly known as the Pacific Rugby Cup, against teams including Tonga A and Fiji Warriors. Since 2016, the team has also competed in the Americas Pacific Challenge. Between 2006 and 2010, Samoa was represented by two teams at the Pacific Rugby Cup; Upolu Samoa and Savaii Samoa. The two teams were replaced in 2011 by Samoa A which is now the
Rugby union in England rugby at least once a week. Rugby union has often been considered, somewhat pejoratively, a 'posh' game. This may be historically linked to the split between Northern teams and the rest of the rugby fraternity over 'broken time payments', i.e. professionalism. This split led to the development of the separate sport of rugby league. The amateur ethos made it difficult for players who could not afford to take time off work to play away games or to go on tour - an integral part of the rugby tradition. Rugby union in many parts of England is associated with fee-paying independent