Samoa team manager fined 100 pigs for bad behaviour at Rugby World Cup

Samoa team manager Mathew Vaea has been fined 100 pigs by his home village over allegations he misbehaved at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Samoan leaders in the Leauva'a village have ordered Vaea to pay 100 sows for tarnishing the chiefly title of "tuala" that had been bestowed on him.



Leauva'a chief Vaifale Iose said Vaea's alleged excessive drinking at the tournament, where the national team had a disappointing campaign and failed to reach the quarter-finals, had brought his position into disrepute.

"The title of tuala received bad publicity in the media because tuala Mathew failed to perform some of his duties as the manager for the Manu Samoa," he said. However, he said rather than physically hand over pigs to the village, Vaea had paid a fine of 2,000 Samoan tala (£530), equivalent to their value, and made a formal apology to village elders.