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While this World Cup has definitely been more interesting in terms of minnow results, there have been some disappointing aspects.
Japan’s massive upset and some improved performances by Georgia, Namibia and Romania, were certainly bonuses for rugby’s smaller nations, there has been a number of let downs.
England aside, the United States, Canada and Uruguay have been disappointing. However I think the poor performances by the Pacific Islands teams is a concern for World Rugby.
While Fiji’s only win was against Uruguay, their performances against England, Wales and Australia were much better than their trainwreck in 2011, where Wales put over 60 points on them. Therefore I’m going to focus on their Polynesian neighbours, Tonga and Samoa. I’m very concerned about the performances of these two teams and quite frankly about their future in international rugby.
There is no doubt that Polynesians are among the most gifted athletes in the world when it comes to contact sports. Many men of Polynesian heritage and solid build ply their trade in the NRL and NFL in addition to rugby union.
Both Samoa and Tonga have punched above their weight in international rugby. Samoa made the World Cup quarter finals in 1991 and 1995. In 1999, they defeated Wales (again) and 2003 they gave England an almighty scare in their pool match.
Tonga have never made the quarter finals, but they gave the Springboks a tough time in 2007 and who can forget their win over France in 2011.
This World Cup was much different. Tonga recorded one against Namibia, while Samoa accounted for the USA and gave Scotland an unexpected scare. In 1991 and 1995, Samoa defeated Argentina. Now I would expect the Pumas to beat Samoa quite comfortably.
Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Romania, Japan and France all had at least one player in their world cup squads who was either of Tongan or Samoan heritage. The fact that Romania has one player is of interest. In the past 10 years, the Romanian rugby union has set up a semi-professional domestic competition, and a significant number of Polynesian players have ended up plying their trade there, such as former All Black and Waratah Sosene Anesi.
While World Rugby is keen to point to the likes of Georgia being great for the game (which is correct), this is going to affect the smaller teams in a big way, and the smallest teams (in terms of population) are Tonga and Samoa, who have a combined population of roughly 300,000, smaller than Canberra.
How can the Polynesian countries hope to compete in the future should more countries (such as Georgia and Russia) take rugby more seriously? If say Georgia establish a semi professional club competition, it’s likely we would see a stream of Tongans and Samoans heading to Tbilisi and surrounds, and the likelihood is that these guys may well end up playing for the Lelos instead of Ikale Tahu or Manu Samoa.
Samoa and Tonga cannot hope to establish professional competitions in their own nations as their populations are too small with limited infrastructure and poor economies.
Added to this, there are constant issues about financial mismanagement in the national unions of Tonga and Samoa, which doesn’t help. A professional rugby contract in Japan or Europe is a valid career option for many young men in Samoa and Tonga, and I suspect that in many cases, these men will see representing another country as their best career option.
At the same time, rugby league and American football may well take an interest in the athletes of the South Pacific and establish their own pathways into each code’s respective professional competitions. This is already taking place in the NRL with quite a few Fijians playing rugby league, like Sisi Waqa and Marika Korobeite.
Given all of this, can the people of Tonga and Samoa expect their national teams in their favourite sport to be successful, or would they have to expect their only successes will be against each other and other fellow minnows, such as Namibia? Or will they be content to cheer on their fellow Polynesians wearing the jerseys of other nations?
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.