"Represent your people": Samoa coach hopeful Tino will make nationality switch

Samoa head coach Ben Gardiner has declared Tino Fa’asuamaleaui a definite selection should he nominate for Toa Samoa in the World Cup, but won’t pressure the Titans co-captain into any decisions.

Fa’asuamaleaui’s allegiance was up in the air before last season’s Pacific Championship, with Samoa and Australia both options for the Maroons forward, along with Origin duo Payne Haas and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

The Titans’ lock ultimately opted to stick with Australia for the Ashes, while Haas and Tabuai-Fidow chose Samoa, however, speculation has again emerged with the World Cup three months away.

Gardiner said that while he would love Fa’asuamaleaui to play for his side, he won’t pressure the 26-year-old into any decision, sharing the sentiments of Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters.

“We had a number of chats last year,” Gardiner revealed on SEN's Front Office with Vossy.

“We've had a chat with his camp, obviously, but it's one of those circumstances where Origin comes first.

“So Origin's just finished, as we all know.

“Let's take into account Payne (Haas) last year. Payne was involved in Origin. We let him go about his business for that and then once the Origin was over, we started to up the ante around being prepared for the World Cup for us.

“We sort of said to the club as well… he's got his club footy to go, Tino, and I think that you want him to be able to invest into his club footy for the back end of the year and not have this in the back of his mind.

“Make the decision, come out and represent your people, and, at the end of the day, we have a great time in our camp. We connect to our heritage and we connect to the culture.

“It allows them to play from the heart, and we think we present a good opportunity for players to be able to do that.

“I agree with what Kevvie (Walters) said… the boys need to play where they're comfortable and where their heart is, and, at the end of the day, there's never any pressure.

“I can hear that in Kevvie’s comments as much as in my comments that we want the boys to play where they wanna play, where they're gonna play their best footy, and that's important.”