By Jim Webster

Having just returned from holidaying in Samoa, with its lovely beachside resorts, stunningly beautiful water-holes and ultra-friendly people, my wife and I were keen to return and were looking to do so around the second week of July.

But nope; after some enquiries we’ve given up even thinking of doing so.

Every type of accommodation, from bungalows to ultimate luxury, is booked out on the main island of Upolu. Everything? Yes, not a room to spare anywhere. And a local told me there won’t even be space to pitch a tent on any public ground!

Why, you ask? What the hell’s happening over there?

It so happens that the All Blacks will begin their march towards the Rugby World Cup under the Samoan sunshine at the very time we wanted to visit.

They will be playing their first-ever Test match against Samoa in the capital Apia on Wednesday, July 8, kicking off at 3pm.

As you can imagine, demand for tickets to the 12,000-capacity Apia Park and for accommodation was red hot. While a certain number of tickets, ranging from $40 to $500, were kept for locals, the rest were snapped up by those strange people who prefer dressing in nothing but black and white.

As for the remaining 200,000 residents wanting to watch the match, large TV screens will be set up on surrounding streets.

It will be the first match coach Steve Hansen’s men will play in their build-up to the World Cup in England in September-October.

“It’ll be a great way to bring the guys together and it is going to be very special. We’ve got a lot of Samoan guys in our team who are proud of their heritage and we, too, are very proud of them.

“It’s just not about going there for a game. It’s going there and learning a little bit about some of the heritage and more so about the heritage of those people we have in our team – and that’s pretty special for us.”

As Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi (makes the name Tony Abbott pretty easy to remember), who is also chairman of the country’s rugby union, said:

“It is well documented that New Zealand Rugby has included many, many players of Pacific Island heritage, especially Samoans.

“Our contributions to New Zealand rugby have been well known. It is therefore fitting that Manu Samoa will be hosting the All Blacks and I take this opportunity to express my very sincere appreciation for the support and work of so many people in making this rugby match possible.”

Commercial sponsors have made the game a reality but, in a rare move, the New Zealand Rugby will only have their costs covered for the Test match, rather than turn a profit.

There’s only one catch to this monumental occasion.

The Test will be played only a few days after the Super Rugby final on Saturday, July 4 and any All Blacks involved in the tournament’s showpiece game for their franchises won’t be considered for the trip to Apia.

A nightmare scenario for all involved would be an all-Kiwi Super Rugby final, but Hansen says they are prepared for this worst-case scenario.

“If we’ve got two teams in the final, we’ll still have an All Black team going to Samoa and it’ll be the best team we can pick and they’ll be expected to play like All Blacks.

“We’ve been through all the things that could possibly happen and we still think we can go there and represent New Zealand the way they should be represented.”

Of course, all Aussie rugby fans are hoping the most powerful All Blacks team imaginable will be ripping into Manu Samoa, having just watched (we hope) the Brumbies and Waratahs playing the Super Rugby final.

NZ Sport and Recreation Minister Murray McCully welcomed the announcement of this historic upcoming Test, saying the two countries were bound together by a “shared passion for the game of rugby.”

“The All Blacks playing in Apia recognizes the importance of Samoa and other Pacific nations to our national side and our national game,” he said. “This historic Test will reflect the fact that some of the best-known All Blacks have Pacific heritage and Pacific people have made an enormous contribution to New Zealand rugby at all levels.”

Off the top of my head, names like Frank Bunce, Michael Jones, Jerome Kaino, Keven Mealamu, Tana Umaga and Julian Savea come to mind.

So, it looks like we’ll just have to rethink those dates for our next Samoan holiday and check out accommodation there sometime before July 18, when we battle the Springboks in Brisbane, or else early September before the World Cup kicks off.