How a social media boom and surging merchandise sales are fuelling Samoa’s World Cup pursuit

Samoa have leapfrogged England to become one of the biggest international rugby league franchises in the world, and they could go to a whole new level ahead of next year’s World Cup.

Samoa have quickly become a rugby league powerhouse.

An epic surge in social media followers and merchandise sales will underpin Toa Samoa’s push for a World Cup victory next year as the numbers behind their international rise have been revealed.

Although head coach Ben Gardiner isn’t holding his breath for a change of heart from Kangaroos star Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Samoa is still tracking for incredible support ahead of next year’s World Cup with numbers revealing they’re now one of the biggest international franchises in the world.

Spearheaded by Payne Haas defecting from Australia to represent the island nation, Samoa’s popularity with fans has hit record new heights, jumping England to put them third behind the Kangaroos and New Zealand for social media followers.

After reaching the Pacific Championships final against New Zealand, their social media following jumped by 41,000 on Instagram to 126,000 and climbing.

In terms of merchandise, they outsold every other international team comfortably according to Dynasty Sport, and the Pacific Championships final set a new broadcast record for the tournament with 1.12 million viewers in Australia and New Zealand.

Now, a fortnight on from their finals loss to the Kiwis, Gardiner says he wants to harness that support and win next year’s World Cup on Australian soil.

“Success would be winning the World Cup. That’s what we’re aiming to do,” he said.

“We’ve come a long way… before going into the last World Cup Samoa were ranked eighth in the world and finished second in that tournament.

“This tournament we’ve been able to rise our stakes to be ranked fourth in the world. “We feel that’s an element in success in itself.”

Haas’s commitment to Samoa was undoubtably part of the rise, while Fa’asuamaleaui has also left the door open for a possible Samoa switch.

It would take the island nation to a new level for next year’s World Cup.

However, Gardiner has already confirmed availability with his players but says he’s pushing on as if Fa’asuamaleaui will play for Australia.

Samoa have quickly become a rugby league powerhouse.

“He’s a no at the moment, I’ve met with him a few times this year, even prior to him starting playing this year, and the fact that he registered interest and that he’s keen to have a discussion was a good sign for us,” Gardiner said.

“Tino is a guy who takes on board what his family says, which how the Samoan boys are, and I’m completely comfortable with that.

“We’re very lucky we’ve had a couple of guys choose to come and play for Samoa for the right reasons.

“There’s been some discussion in the media that he’s left the door open, and he may well have, but I can only work with what he’s told me to this point, which is that he’s chosen to play for Australia for the time being.

“He’s lucky enough that he can play for Samoa potentially in the future and we’ll leave that up to him.”

The World Cup draw for the end of 2026 was released on Sunday.

Samoa have been pooled with England and Lebanon, to play games against Tonga, Papua New Guinea and France before the playoffs.

Their clash with Tonga is scheduled in the last round before finals at CommBank Stadium on November 1, and is every chance of smashing newly set records.

Tabuai-Fidow has gone from Samoa’s rival.

To one of their stars.

If fit, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow is one big name inclusion that could help boost their chances.

“When we picked, the conversation is World Cup and beyond, so if you’re coming to play for Samoa it’s as a minimum for the World Cup, he explained.

“What we’ve done to improve our program, we believe that once they come to us they’re not going to want to go anywhere else.

“Across the board one of the things we got right in the Pac Champs is we believe our program is now at the level it needs to be at for an international team.”

Ultimately, winning is the goal.

Samoa were beaten 30-10 by Australia in the 2022 World Cup final at Old Trafford, but Gardiner has come on board since.

“It’s now five or six teams that have a decent chance of winning the tournament,” he said.

“It’s only a five week tournament now, in the past it’s been seven.

“If you look at Samoa’s tournament last time, they got trounced in the first game by 60 points and then were able to find our way back into it. There’s just no room for that this time around.”

Originally published as How a social media boom and surging merchandise sales are fuelling Samoa’s World Cup pursuit