Along with Tonga, these nations would meet regularly and eventually contest competitions such as the Pacific Tri-Nations – with Western Samoa winning the first of these.

Under their new coach, former New Zealand and Samoan international player Michael Jones, Samoa competed in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

In 1954 Western Samoa visited both Pacific Island neighbors Fiji and Tonga, but had to wait a further 20 years before a tour of New Zealand took place.

After sweeping aside Wales 16–13 in Cardiff and defeating Argentina 35–12, and narrowly losing 3–9 to eventual champions Australia in their pool match, Western Samoa, a country with a population of 160,000, found itself in the quarterfinals against Scotland at Murrayfield.

One Welsh fan ruefully remarked after Wales's defeat, "It's a good job we weren't playing all of Samoa."

[4][5] Samoa emerged from the 1999 World Cup with its honor intact after another shock 38–31 victory over host nation Wales in the pool stages.

Manu Samoa qualified for the 2003 World Cup with a 17–16 loss against Fiji, Earl Va'a missing an injury-time penalty.

[6] Samoa began their 2011 World Cup campaign preparation with a flying start, after registering an upset against No.2 ranked Australia with a four-try-to-two win of 32–23.

[9] Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Samoa national XV at test level up until 21 September 2024.

[11] In one of the scenes of the feature film, Invictus, Western Samoa can be seen playing South Africa in the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

On 14 August, Samoa named a 31-player squad for the opening test of the 2024 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup against Fiji.

[19] Western Samoa's triumph in the 1991 Rugby World Cup was inspired by their assistant coach Bryan Williams,[citation needed] who was a New Zealand-born (of Samoan descent) All Black great of the 1970s.

By the time of the 1991 World Cup several other New Zealand-born Samoans like Pat Lam, Stephen Bachop, Frank Bunce and Apollo Perelini had joined him.

New Zealand born players with Samoan parentage have played for Samoa, such as Earl Va'a, Pat Lam and Lome Fa'atau.

Close ties exist between the two countries, these bonds first being formed with the start of mass Polynesian migration to New Zealand in the latter half of the twentieth century.