The chairman of the American Samoa Rugby Union, Togiola Tulafono, has responded to criticism from local residents for including Samoa-born players in the team that competed at last weekend's Oceania Championships in Fiji.
Samoa News says it has received a lot of rude and racist reactions from local residents.
Togiola says the comments are from jealous and narrow minded people who cannot do anything positive for the territory.
The former governor says all of the American Samoa squad members meets the IRB requirements and are eligible to play.
He says it's no different to the former All Black Jerome Kaino, who was born in American Samoa but represented New Zealand.
