Samoan centre launches Twitter tirade at IRB

The IRB has come in for a foul-mouthed Twitter attack by a Samoa player who has accused it of subjecting the Pacific Island Rugby World Cup team team to slavery and compared it to the Holocaust.

Centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu launched the tirade over a schedule that forced Samoa, a tier 2 team, back on to the field four days after their opening match against Namibia while Wales was given a full week to recover from their match against South Africa in Wellington.

"How do we stop the injustice of being treated differently from Wales and the rich?'', Fuimaono-Sapolu said on Twitter.

"I wonder how would these tier 1 teams function with only three days' rest. IRB stop exploiting my people. Please, all we ask is fairness. If they get a week, give us a week. Simple.

"IRB ****heads, suspend me but give Samoa the same days off as Wales.

"It's obvious the IRB are unjust. Wales got 7 days, we got 3. Unfair treatment, like slavery, like the holocaust, like apartheid. **** u.'

He later wrote: "Give Wales 3 days off and give Samoa a week!! We would kill them!!!''

Fuimaono-Sapolu then clashed with rugby fans on the social networking site as they criticised him for comparing Samoa's plight to acts of genocide.

Wales kept their Rugby World Cup quarter-final ambitions alive by coming from behind to beat Samoa 17-10 in their Pool D encounter in Hamilton yesterday.

The Welsh lost their previous two cup meetings with Samoa.

Samoa coach Titimaea Tafua said his side's four-day turnaround was not an excuse for the defeat in Hamilton.

The BBC quoted an IRB spokesman as saying Fuimaono-Sapolu's posts were "very disappointing''.

Fuimaono-Sapolu could be disciplined if he is found to have broken the RWC code of conduct, which contains social media guidelines.

The fixture schedule is more onerous on the tier 2 nations because World Cup organisers want to timetable the leading countries in prime-time slots to maximise commercial revenue.

 

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