Sereana Salalo/PACNEWS

This was after they suffered two consecutive losses during their pool matches at Stade de France after Day One of competition. 

Team Samoa Men’s Sevens Rugby, in their first Olympic Games, lost to Australia, 21-14, in their opening match and were beaten by Argentina, 28-12, in their second match.

The team won its final pool match against Kenya on Day Two, 26-0, to qualify for the Placing 9-12 Play-offs.

Head coach Brian Lima said there has been a lot of learnings, and Paris 2024 has not been a walk in the park for his side. 

“This is the Olympic standard, I am very disappointed with the performance by Samoa with the way we played,” he said. 

“There were a lot of unforced errors."

In the Placing 9-12 Play-offs, Team Samoa beat Japan, 42-7, and will play Kenya again to determine their final standing in the competition, in the Men’s 9-10 Play-off Match

“We need to refocus and regroup and come back strong,” Lima said.  

“We knew the standard; Fiji has been there before and we're not here to make up numbers; we came here to compete for a medal.

"Rugby is a sport that we know could earn us a medal."

The competition format has the top two teams from each pool and the two best third-placed teams in the pool stages qualify for the quarter-finals, with the remaining four teams qualifying for the Placing 9-12 Play-offs.

Samoa plays Kenya in the Men’s 9-10 Play-off Match at 5PM France Time on 27 July 2024.