Samoa coach Ben Gardiner has described the controversial coming together of his team and England during the Siva Tau as “passion” and “spectacular” after several players clashed ahead of kick-off in Wigan last Sunday.
Gordon Chan Kum Tong and Mikey Lewis touched foreheads, while Francis Molo, George Williams and Matty Lees failed to disperse after the heated Samoan war dance on the halfway line at the Brick Community Stadium.
The televised moment went viral and has now been watched millions of times online.
“It’s the passion in the groupfrom both teams and it was spectacular,” Gardiner told League Express.
“I’m sure the Rugby League world and the RFL would be pretty happy with the fact that it’s got a lot of interest on the internet and social media and created a really good spectacle for the game. If I were a Rugby League fan, I would definitely want to be going out and positioning myself in my seat ten minutes before kick-off on Saturday so that I make sure I get to see it as well as the good footy that will go with it.”
In the Pacific Championship the teams are required to stand at the 40-metre line to avoid opponents coming together during a war dance. But at the Brick Community Stadium England stood on the halfway line, creating a hostile opening to the game, which the hosts won convincingly.
Gardiner said the Pacific nation has no communication from the RFL about changing or limiting the performance of the Siva Tau ahead of the second Test in Leeds.
The coach explained the war dance as being a “cultural spectacle”.
“It shows, first of all, the passion for our country, and also the boys representing their family,” he said.
“As you may realise if you look in our shed on game day, each of the boys have not only their name and their picture, but it also has their village that is their heritage, so where their grandparents or their parents were born, that is on their picture.
“So when they go out and do the Siva Tau they’re representing all of those villages. We talk about it in our preparation, putting everything together where all of those villages come together to represent Samoa and we talk about how we play as one.
“When we do the Siva Tau the players are not only are they representing themselves individually, but they’re also representing their villages and their nation as a whole. The country is looking to them to showcase what we do, which is to go into battle with passion.
“We go into battle with the rest of our nation on our back and on our shoulders. And we’re showing to the world what Samoa does. When they go out and do it, they want to do it with passion, and they want to do it to represent those people in the way that they should be represented.
“It’s a spectacle of culture, but it’s also something that the boys are very, very passionate about because they know that when they do it, people back home are watching, and they know that they’re putting our culture out to the world.”
England won the first Test 34-18 and made a fast start in Wigan, with Gardiner admitting: “I thought that in the first half we missed the jump in the game.
“We didn’t quite get some of the defensive systems right. And as a result of that we just gave them too many opportunities around fighting the tackle, and we had to try and hold them down to try and get control of the ruck. So as a result of that we gave penalties away.”
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