{"id":2212,"date":"2025-07-18T04:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T04:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/2212\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T04:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T04:39:10","slug":"kefu-speaks-out-after-lions-block-wallaby-from-playing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/2212\/","title":{"rendered":"Kefu speaks out after Lions block Wallaby from playing"},"content":{"rendered":"

First Nations and Pasifika XV coach and Wallabies great Toutai Kefu has spoken of his disappointment after the British and Irish Lions refused to allow Waratahs and Wallabies backrower Pete Samu to represent the First Nations and Pasifika XV next Tuesday in Melbourne because he did not play Super Rugby this season.<\/p>\n

Kefu described his player as \u201cdevastated\u201d and is still struggling to understand why the touring side has blocked Samu from playing in Melbourne after he was named in the squad to face the Lions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely gutted, I still can\u2019t believe that they would do it, complain about it, I suppose it is what it is, but it\u2019s extra motivation for our boys,\u201d Kefu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a team that\u2019s just been put together, we\u2019re facing a massive challenge as it is, so he (Samu) would have definitely strengthened us, there\u2019s no doubt about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey must have been worried we were going to win. I don\u2019t know why they would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources with knowledge of the Lions\u2019 demand but not authorised to speak publicly said that Samu was told the news yesterday in Melbourne and was offered the opportunity to leave the First Nations and Pasifika XV, but requested to stay with the squad where he is helping at training. Samu\u2019s teammates were told on Friday morning at training.<\/p>\n

The First Nations & Pasifika XV fixture in Melbourne was created after the collapse of the Melbourne Rebels last May and will be the first time a team of this nature has played the British and Irish Lions in Australia.<\/p>\n

Because the original tour agreement signed between Rugby Australia and the Lions organisation initially had the Rebels fixture in it, the need to change to an alternative team after the Rebels\u2019 demise last year also meant the contract had to be amended. The Lions agreed, but insisted on a sign-off of the squad that would be put together.<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/p>\n

Pete Samu wearing the First Nations & Pasifika team kit.Credit: Getty Images for Rugby Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First Nations and Pasifika XV coach and Wallabies great Toutai Kefu has spoken of his disappointment after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-2212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}