The Samoan Rugby Union has been declared bankrupt by its chairman and the country's prime minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi.
The news comes as the team prepares to face Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday in the first match of three in their end-of-season tour.
"We are bankrupt," Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi told the Samoa Observer. "In other words we are insolvent. It means the Union cannot continue to pay off our debts with the banks. We also need money to pay the players so they can continue to play."
Malielegaoi has called on the country's public to pledge funds to the union through a 'radiothon' so it can continue financing the team.
He has also called on the RFU -- England play Samoa on Nov. 25 - to use a portion of the gate receipts from their Test match to help the union. The RFU says it will offer a "goodwill payment to Samoa", similar to what it did last year for Fiji.
Malielegaoi was also critical of World Rugby, saying it sees the SRU as a "rubber stamp Union... if they tell us to go to the beach, we do as we are told". A World Rugby spokesperson told ESPN it will continue to help Samoa financially.
"World Rugby is committed to assisting the Samoa Rugby Union's high performance programme and increased its direct and indirect union investment to £1.5 million in 2017," a World Rugby spokesperson said.
"This support package includes World Rugby covering travel costs for players in Samoa and elsewhere to and from Europe for the November tests, the training camp ahead of the tests and Samoa A's participation in the Americas Pacific Challenge, an important preparation tournament."
Included in the investment, World Rugby has funded or partly funded Samoa's camp in London, professional player salary insurance and logistics for their three-week tour in Europe.