Samoan Prime Minister and president of the Samoa Rugby Union Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi did not mince words when he showed his disappointment at how the Manu Samoa one-off test against the touring Scotland team was controlled by the match officials. He also stated that an official complaint must be made to the IRB.

Speaking on his weekly radio program “2AP ma le Palemia” on Thursday, the outspoken prime minister expressed his displeasure at the assistant referee who raised his flag signaling that the Scottish player who had the ball had stepped out of the field with the ball still in his possession.

However, most of the more than 17,000 spectators who watched the game especially those facing that part of the field saw that the Scottish player had passed the ball before he was forced to step out of the field. This was later proved in a replay of the incident telecast the following night on TV1 which clearly showed the Scottish player without the ball when he stepped outside the field of play.

The ball was picked up Samoan winger and Sevens star Paul Perez who sprinted unpursued to the corner of the field to score what would have been the winning try for the Men in Blue.

However, the assistant referee’s flag remained raised and the referee disallowed the try.

The prime minister said that a formal complaint must be made to the IRB “so they won’t send any more idiots to officiate in future Manu Samoa games.”

Prime Minister Tuilaepa called the assistant referee an idiot who did not know what he was doing and accused the match officials of secretly harboring racist attitudes towards the Manu Samoa.

“O lo o I ai lava uiga faailoga lanu I le aualii ia I le alu a’e I luga o le Manu Samoa ma le faiaina ai o se au tele faapea.”

“There is still an attitude of racial discrimination which exists in these guys’ mentality because of the high  standard of rugby Manu Samoa has achieved and can defeat top teams like this,” said Tuilaepa.

“They think they know everything and then they send idiots to officiate an important game and one of them tries to convince us in broad daylight in our own country that the ball carrier had stepped out of the field with the ball when we can all see that he left the ball in the field before he was pushed outside the field!” the prime minister erupted.

He said that he has directed the union secretary not to arrange any more Manu Samoa games at Apia Park until certain things are done.

These include a clock on the scoreboard which shows how much time is left in the game as it progresses, the games must be telecast “so that whoever is in charge of the referees and officials overseas can see for themselves how the games are officiated by the idiots they send over,” and a siren to signal that time is up.

“If the siren sounds and the referee continues the match unnecessarily, then a rock hitting his head would be justified!” Tuilaepa declared.

He said that the Samoa Rugby Union has for the longest time, been requesting a tour by the All Blacks to no avail and that maybe, by the time this request eventuates, everything will be straightened out to avoid another disaster like the one that happened in the game against Scotland.