The Samoa women's rugby team admit quarantine restrictions could force some players to make themselves unavailable for their World Cup campaign.
The Manusina are through to the final qualification tournament, expected to take place in Europe in May, four months before the World Cup kicks off in New Zealand.
Samoa celebrates taking another step closer to RWC 2021 Photo: RNZ Pacific / Talei Anderson
All of the players are amateurs and coach Ramsey Tomokino said if they had to spend a month in quarantine on top of the World Cup proper it could be a bridge too far.
"It would mean some players might have to leave their jobs or just say no because their employment is their livelihood, and that is the difference between the men's and the women's game, where we're not full-time professional athletes.
"It would hit us pretty hard actually if that was the case."
The Manusina outclassed Tonga 40-0 in November to advance to the final repechage however the other three teams are still to be confirmed.
.@Manusina_SWR are one step closer to the 2021 @WorldRugby World Cup, celebrating their 40-0 win against Tonga pic.twitter.com/sIE68YMZO4
— RNZ Pacific Sport (@RNZISport) November 14, 2020
The European Qualification Tournament was cancelled last year because of Covid-19 while the Women's Six Nations, Asia Rugby Women's Championship and a playoff between Kenya and Colombia have all been postponed, leaving Samoa in a holding pattern.
"We're just really waiting to see what the next instructions are around this qualifier game," Tomokino explained.
"It's meant to be the last four teams vying for that one spot into one of the hardest pools (alongside New Zealand, Australia and Wales) but certainly we'd love to get the opportunity to do that."
While Europe remains the most likely destination, Tomokino has heard other whispers doing the rounds.
"(There is also the) possibility of that repechage being down in New Zealand but then also we're hearing other scenarios too which, if they play out, might not be favourable to us," he said.
"And that they might look at the two highest ranked teams playing of the four which could pose an issue for us, so we could possibly miss out in that regard."
The Manusina women's rugby team pack down a scrum in training. Photo: Supplied/Samoa Rugby Union
The bulk of the Manusina squad will resume training in Auckland on Wednesday and Ramsey Tomokino is keen to expand his player pool for what it's hoped will be a year to remember.
"I think there will be a few girls now that are realising that they're probably not going to make New Zealand or Australia - if they haven't been shoulder tapped by now then they're probably not likely in the World Cup frame," he said.
" We've opened that up again just to see if there's any new players that come onto the radar and then we've obviously got our core group of girls, so we've probably got easily a group of between 50-60 players."
While nothing is set in stone, officials are also working hard to confirm some much-needed match preparation.
It's still hoped that the Oceania Women's Championship will return in 2021 after last year's competition was cancelled because of the pandemic.
The Manusina are also exploring the possibility of more test matches against Pacific Island countries using New Zealand based players, in an effort to improve their world ranking.
