REVEALED: Tattooed Samoans don skin suits to avoid offending Japanese hosts
Rugby NewsTuesday, 17 September 2019 at 13:16
In a display of respect to the host nation, the Samoa team will wear skin suits to cover up their traditional Pacific Islander tattoos at times during Rugby World Cup 2019.
As a part of their preparations ahead of kick-off, the Samoans have consulted an expert on Japanese culture to make sure the heavily tattooed team avoid problems.
"We had someone coming in and giving us a heads-up about what we could expect in Japan," Samoa captain Jack Lam said.
"There’s a lot of similarities in our cultures but when it comes to the tattoos we have obviously got a lot of tattoos, it's quite normal in our culture.
"But we are respectful and mindful to what the Japanese way is. We will be making sure that what we are showing will be OK."
EDITORS PICKS:
TRENDING
LATEST NEWS
LATEST COMMENTS
- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
Loading
