Former Players Walk Different Paths to Top Coaching Jobs

by Tuifa’asisina Peter Rees

Today’s Pacific Nations Cup fixture pits two former international rugby stars against each other as the head coach of their respective teams. Manu Samoa head coach Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua was a stalwart of Manu Samoa’s midfield during the 2000s and early 2010s, while Ikale Tahi coach Toutai Kefu was a World Cup winner with Australia’s Wallabies in 1999 scoring a hat trick against Romania and establishing himself as one of the world’s top No.8’s of that era. Vaovasamanaia can claim bragging rights after beating Tonga 34-18 in last year’s Pacific Nations Cup in Lautoka. But Kefu has tasted victory before over Samoa leading Tonga to the Oceania 2 spot for RWC 2019 past Samoa. He brings formidable team to Apia for the Pacific Nations Cup.

Vaovasamanaia Seilala Mapusua
Head Coach – Manu Samoa

Samoan-born Vaovasamanaia played 26 tests for Manu Samoa and was part of the famous team that upset the Wallabies in 2011. He played in two World Cups in 2007 and 2011. The former Highlanders and London Irish midfielder retired in 2016 after a stint in Japan.

Since Vaovasamanaia’s arrival as head coach in 2020, he has had to negotiate the logistical challenges of COVID. But he has overseen a vast improvement in Manu Samoa’s international results and world ranking winning the Pacific Nations Cup last year and the team’s world ranking rising from 15 to 12, leapfrogging Fiji and Tonga in the process. Taking on the head coach role is a job close to Vaovasamanaia’s heart as a former player who bled blue every time he took the field for Manu Samoa across his career. Although he was relatively new to coaching at this level, he chose to take on the challenge when he saw the national team underperforming. His goal was to reverse the string of poor results and lift the team to achieve their potential with a long-term goal of reaching the knockout rounds of the Rugby World Cup 2023 in his sights. “Seeing the results not go our way it’s been really tough and sometimes frustrating, and I suppose that was part of the reason why I thought if I want to influence this team that means a lot to me, then this was the best way to do it,” he said in an interview with Coconet.

As a former player, Vaovasamanaia has played a key role in helping Lakapi Samoa to attract many of the overseasbased Samoan stars to make themselves available for Samoa. He has also surrounded himself with a formidable coaching team with expertise and experience in key areas, while embedding a strong culture within the team to ensure the players respect the values and foundations the team is built upon.

Toutai Kefu
Head Coach – ‘Ikale Tahi

Kefu, 49, has been in the top job for Tonga since 2016. The former Wallabies international took a different path to the national team than Vaovasamanaia. The former Queensland Reds and Kubota Spears back-rower appeared 60 times for Australia from 1997-2003, the highlight being part of the great Wallabies teams which clinched the World Cup in 1999 and series win over the touring British & Irish Lions in 2001.

After missing selection for the 2003 World Cup, he signed with Kubota and spent the remainder of his career in Japan before hanging up his boots in 2010.

Kefu started his coaching career in 2010 as head coach of the Sunshine Coast Stingrays in the Queensland Premier League. The following year he took up an assistant coaching role with the Tonga Rugby Union and made an immediate impact helping the Ikale Tahi to wins over Fiji and Samoa in the Pacific Nations Cup and two wins at the Rugby World Cup 2011 over Japan 31-18 and one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, a famous 19-14 win over finalists France.

Kefu became the interim head coach of Ikale Tahi in 2012 following the resignation of Isitolo Maka. But Mana Otai was installed as the permanent coach. Kefu then took up a position as coach of his former club Kubota Spears earning them promotion to the Japan Top League in the 2013-2014 season.

In 2016, Kefu replaced Mana Otai as head coach of the Ikale Tahi after Tonga failed to automatically qualify for the World Cup in 2019. He has held on to the top job ever since and has assembled arguably Tonga’s strongest ever squad on paper for their 2023 campaign. “This is obviously a different class of side compared to teams we have had in the past, and what it enables us to do, it provides us with some massive X-Factor,” Kefu said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.