Alama Ieremia

Ieremia was a regular selection for the Hurricanes, forming a reliable and formidable midfield partnership with Jason O'Halloran.

He earned 5 caps for Western Samoa, his last coming against the All Blacks at Eden Park on 31 July 1993, New Zealand winning 35–13, with the match being the first official international between the two countries.

Ieremia was named in the All Blacks squad for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, but played only the pool match against Japan, where he also scored his first ever international try.

For most of 1995 and 1996 the All Blacks' preference was for Walter Little as Bunce's partner and it was only an injury to Little that gave Ieremia his first extensive run as a regular test selection in 1997.

Ieremia, a cheerful, articulate personality, was a strong, incisive runner and at 1.87m and 100 kg an imposing and powerful defender.

When he left New Zealand rugby at the end of the 2000 season to take up an overseas contract, Ieremia had played 40 matches for the All Blacks, including 30 tests.

After two seasons in Japan, which saw Suntory make it to the final for the first time in over five years, Ieremia returned to New Zealand in 2007 as an assistant coach with the Wellington Lions.

When Colin Cooper left the side in 2010, Mark Hammett retained Ieremia as the attack coach for the 2011 and 2012 Super Rugby season.

[8] On 23 December 2015, he was named head coach of the Manu Samoa, taking over from Stephen Betham, who resigned after the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

This included a 78–0 loss to New Zealand, which was the first time since 1996 that Samoa had failed to score any points in a test match.