The hype is on for Samoa’s Manusina rugby team as they claimed another victory at the Oceania Women's Championship with the demolition of Papua New Guinea’s Cassowaries 83-0.

Samoa now leads the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship 2023 on point standings. 

Early into the game PNG’s Regila Wilfred was red-carded for a dangerous tackle on Samoa’s number eight, Utumalama Atonio who also scored the opening try after driving a steady maul five meters out from the try line.

The Manusia’s onslaught didn’t stop there as they proceeded to deliver a barrage of tries bringing it to a total of seven tries with five successful conversions, pushing Samoa into the lead 45-0 at halftime.

It was an improved performance from PNG in the second half but the fightback was to no avail, as the girls in blue scored three tries in the opening 14 minutes of the second stanza. 

For the team, this was the perfect way to celebrate Samoa’s 61st Independence and this victory at Gold Coast, Australia was the perfect gift.

The Manusina sealed the fate of the PNG Cassowaries with a try from their team captain Sui Pauaraisa and Bella Milo. Manusina hopes to ride on this momentum and dethrone the Fijianas as the defending champions in a final showdown this Sunday.

Both teams met last year and after a hard-fought battle, the Fijians scored the closing try to secure their victory to be crowned the 2022 Oceania Rugby Women Champs.

Manusina Coach, Ramsey Tomokino is very happy with how far the girls have progressed and is preparing for their game against the Fiji team.

"We are very proud of the results thus far but know that we need to nail the final match against Fiji which has been our second main goal," he said. "We have qualified for the WXV competition, it is a matter now with the deciding match on Sunday whether we go to South Africa Tier 2 or Hong Kong Tier 1.

"Our players are certainly up for this match with Fiji as we had this taken away from us at the last minute in 2022. We have full confidence in our team with selection becoming tougher and tougher to select our final 23.

"Eight players have debuted, and we have some exciting talent building within Manusina, we can only go from strength to strength. Although we are on top of the Oceania Points table, Fiji as back-to-back Super W champions will be going in as favourites. We are relishing the challenge."

The team that emerges victorious from this match will find a place in the World Cup, to play alongside Scotland, Japan and South Africa.