Samoa boss explains his side’s different Siva Tau approach in second England Test

Samoa boss Ben Gardiner admits his side made a conscious effort to avoid coming into contact with England during Saturday’s Siva Tau.

Some Samoa players went head to head with their English counterparts during the war dance prior to the first Test between the two nations at the Brick Community Stadium.

Clips of the ceremonial challenge instantly went viral, with the likes of Mikey Lewis and Gordon Chan Kum Tong pressing their foreheads together to set the tone for what was a feisty encounter.

It made Saturday’s Siva Tau unmissable viewing with those in attendance at Headingley and those tuning in on the BBC eager to see the Samoan war dance once more. However, while the Siva Tau, which followed a moment’s silence as remembrance day approaches, was passionate, it wasn’t quite as full on, with the Samoan players keeping their distance and refusing to engage with England.

England were lined up on the halfway line once more, but Samoa performed deeper in their own half to avoid the clash that got so many people talking last week.

“It was still intense and we went after it the way we wanted to go after it. We just made some adjustments to where we stood, that was it,” Gardiner said when asked why Samoa had appeared to tone down the Siva Tau after his side’s 34-16 loss.

“We made them for a number of reasons, last week we sort of expected that England would stand on the 40 and then they stood on the 50 so we knew they would stand on the 50 this week. We just moved ourselves back. I don’t really want to go into the detail of why because it wouldn’t be fair on some of the players.”

On the same day the England rugby union team rose to the challenge of the Haka at Twickenham, stepping forward to the halfway line and move to within just metres of their New Zealand counterparts.