Toa Samoa coach Ben Gardiner plans to use this month’s trip to New Zealand to talk to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck about representing Samoa, but expects his players will "work on" the returning star in the meantime.
After naming his squad for the upcoming Pacific Championships on Tuesday, Gardiner said he planned to reach out to ‘RTS’ with the hope of meeting face to face ahead of Samoa playing the Kiwis on October 21 in Auckland.
Tuivasa-Sheck will link back up with the Warriors in 2024 following a stint in rugby union and is eligible to represent both Samoa and the Kiwis, who he previously played 20 Tests for between 2013-2019.
But following their remarkable run to the World Cup final last year, which ended in defeat to the Kangaroos, Samoa are backing themselves to be a side players with dual eligibility want to represent.
“I have had some conversations with a few guys that know Roger and I’ll be reaching out to him over the next couple of weeks, we are going to New Zealand obviously [later this month],” Gardiner said.
“Roger has got to make that choice for himself at the end of the day, but we all know how much of an elite player Roger is, he would be a great player to have in any squad.
“I am hoping that is something that he considers moving forward.
“A lot of what happened with Samoa leading into the World Cup was player-driven and that’s the sort of environment I’d like to create, where players want to come and play with other players because they are Samoan.
I think the players will work on Roger in the background and who knows what happens in 12 months’ time?
Ben Gardiner
After Samoa assistant coach Frank Pritchard spoke of plans to pursue Tuivasa-Sheck back in August, Kiwis coach Michael Maguire told NRL.com that he hoped to have the former Golden Boot and Dally M Medal winner be part of his plans going forward.
Adding more intrigue to the situation is the appointment of Gardiner – a former assistant to Maguire with the Kiwis – as Samoa coach after Matt Parish stood down from the role this year.
Meanwhile Gardiner is planning to have Panthers playmaker Jarome Luai join the squad in camp ahead of their first Pacific Championships match again Australia on October 14, after the premiership-winner was forced to withdraw from selection due to the shoulder injury suffered in last Sunday’s grand final.
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Luai is part of a long list of unavailable players which has contributed to just five members of last year’s World Cup final squad being named by Samoa this time around.
“Having the discussion with Jarome yesterday and obviously after the grand final, [we are] obviously very disappointed he can’t be part of the team as such and be running out on the field with the boys,” Gardiner said.
“But he will be a close part of what we do, he’ll be coming along for the ride for us.
From the Winner's sheds: Jarome Luai
"Whatever happens with him over the next few weeks, just in regards to his shoulder, I’m not sure if he’ll be there for the game, but our plan is to have him there.
“He is the ‘minister for energy’ so we want to make sure he is there if he can be.
“He has been a big part of this squad for a long period of time, just because he is injured doesn’t mean that he won’t have that opportunity.”