6 Sep 2016

Sport: SRU hope new 7s coach will be confirmed by October

12:29 pm on 6 September 2016

The Samoa Rugby Union hopes to have a new sevens coach in place by the start of October, following the dismissal of Damian McGrath.

The Manu finished ninth during last season's World Series and were beaten by Spain in the final of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Monaco.

CEO Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai said while Samoa were just seconds away from reaching Rio the simple fact is they didn't qualify.

"After the Monaco Sevens, Damian's contract was up for review, his performance was up for review. We went through that process since end of June and that report was submitted into the Board to make a decision ... at the end of the day it was about the scoreboard - really our failure to make it to the Olympics probably swayed the board in the end," he said.

"Yes, there's a lot of progress. I think our Board saw it differently in terms of the overall performance of the team. We've had some mixed results over the last 12 months - there's some good stuff going on, some good new players coming through - but at the end of the day it was all about the crucial result that the whole country wanted in the end."

Samoa sevens coach Damian McGrath.

Damian McGrath. Photo: Facebook / Manu Samoa

Faleomavaega said with the new World Series kicking off in December they will have to act fast.

"We're hoping to have somebody hopefully in place by the first week of October or so but preparation and training is still going as normal at the High Performance Unit," he said.

"We're opening up the position like we did recently so it's going overseas and locally."

Despite a press release suggesting the current staff were welcome to reapply for the positions, Faleomavaega admits he doesn't expect McGrath would be interested in doing so.

"No, I don't think so in terms of that. That was actually put in there in terms that we do have a manager's role and an assistant coach's role so it's up to the panel who is to be shortlisted and I suspect that would never happen."

Samoa captain Faalemiga Selesele can't stop Ignacio Martin from crossing for the winning try.

Spain scored in the final seconds to deny Samoa a place at the Rio Olympics. Photo: World Rugby / Martin Seras Lima