Samoa back on track: Johnston

Samoan tighthead prop Census Johnston believes his home nation would never have participated in the World Cup without threatening to strike in November.

Johnston initially missed out Samoa's 31-man World Cup squad, but revealed he always had a deal with head coach Stephen Betham to be drafted back in if required.

Following the withdrawal of Leicester prop Logovi'i Mulipola due to injury, the 34 year-old joined Samoa's ranks on September 9 - after ostensibly retiring from Test rugby in April but reversing that decision in July when he played for Samoa in their historic exhibition against New Zealand in the Samoan capital Apia.

And with his inclusion in Samoa’s World Cup preparations confirmed, Johnston quashed rumours he was forced to retire from Test rugby by his domestic club Toulouse, revealing he had a deal for World Cup release with the French club all along.

Samoa narrowly avoided missing their autumn international friendly with England at Twickenham in November relenting on industrial action only at the 11th hour. The Samoan national team had threatened to strike and therefore miss the game due to concerns over late or missed payments and back-room infrastructure within the Samoan Union.

Johnston confirmed World Rugby had helped to broker new agreements to revolutionise Samoa's union set-up and secure their World Cup participation.

"We do feel vindicated for threatening to strike in November, even though that was an extremely tough position to be in," Johnston said, ahead of their key Pool B clash on Saturday with a wounded South African side.

"For guys who play for tier one nations, they're just used to having very solid, very secure systems.

"And we've had years of not being used to what's going on, and that's just a relief and a weight off the boys' shoulders.

"We can focus on the rugby now.”

"We've ended up getting a bit of a pay rise, it's nothing compared to what the tier one nations get, but it's a step forward.

"Everything's changed. We've got a new CEO, we've got a new high performance manager, and I've arrived in the last few weeks and just seen huge changes.

"The organisation of everything has been set, we know what's going on, so we can purely focus on our job on the field.

"Before we were always worried about things not happening for us, and boys were paying for things like physios out of their own pocket.

"World Rugby and the International Players Union (IRUPA) helped us have talks with the union in the months after November.

"In the last month we were able to sign a deal that will hopefully give Samoa a better future.

"It's crucial for the next generation of players, if we want them to choose Samoa over potentially another nation."

Samoa ran out comfortably winners over the United States 25-16 to open their World Cup campaign last Sunday.