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?
NaBUru38
Guest
Uruguay have been disappointing? What did you expect? Us beating Fiji by two tries? They have dozens of pros in Top 14 and English Premiership. We have just four pros.
Tigranes
Guest
Mike Islanders are already migrating to Eastern Europe and Japan...there are something like 10,000 Tongans in Japan.
MikeTV
Guest
The elite islander players will always migrate to Aus., NZ, UK and Canada where English is the official language. You can add the USA to this list if a professional Rugby team is ever set-up in Hawaii or California. But it is unlikely that islander players will migrate towards Eastern Europe or Japan.
Fishboy
Guest
Maybe a Pacific Islands team playing at the World Cup is the middle ground?
Akari
Roar Rookie
Sounds good to me, sheek.
sheek
Roar Guru
I have two suggestions, one a long-time idea of many people & another that a few people beside myself have thought of. One, at the world cup, offer three prizes. After the pool stages, the top eight contest the cup in knock-out fashion, as per usual. One to three extra matches each. Those who finished 9-16, contest the plate in knock-out fashion. One to three extra matches each. Those who finished 17-20, contest the bowl in knock-out fashion. One to two extra matches each. While all the countries are engaged, give them all something extra to aim for. Take England. Having bowed out of the cup race, the plate race would then keep going, them playing before home crowds, albeit for a lesser prize. The English might be tempted to try different things & trial different squad players they weren't willing to gamble previously. Take Japan. A wonderful opportunity to build on their three pool wins, by going for the plate. For other teams, also an opportunity to try different things in a slightly more relaxed atmosphere. For the bottom four teams, there's still a prize & still more things to learn against opponents of similar ability. Two, have a mid world trophy in between world cups. That is, if the world cup is held 2015, 2019, 2023, etc, the world tournament would be held 2017, 2021, 2025, etc. With the northern hemisphere 6N & southern hemisphere 4N excluded, the world trophy would generally speaking be open to the nations ranked 11-26. It gives tier two nations the regular competition they require under tournament rules. That is, pool then knock-out. People in the know tell me the IRB gives a lot of money to countries. but as see from the example of football, corruption is never far away. Money intended to develop the game might instead find its way into a official's pockets. The world trophy ensures that teams get an opportunity to participate & improve against similarly talented nations.
Johnno
Guest
See not much hope for these 2-tiny nations. As individuals, PI players are great at Clubs and bigger countries. But in there own national-teams they don't do as well, why? One could say the refs are harsh on them sometimes, but it's more than that, the support staff and off-field stuff. Samoa coach Steven Betham, is not a Micheal Chieka or Steve Hanson coach standard. Plus all the other off-field luxuries enjoyed by bigger nations has an impact. Fiji at the 2011 WC were staying in caravans in NZ while, the Wallabies and other Tier-1's stayed in 5-star hotels.
CA3ZAR
Roar Pro
great article, I really do hope that Samoa and Tonga just move forward instead of dwelling on their performance in the WC. They both have a proud history when it comes to playing against tier one nations and I do hope that they keep punching well above their weight. All we can hope for is more matches against tier one nations.
Vaiz
Guest
busting the innocent aye Kevin Hastings
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Not everyone is like that terry, you still have players who dont 'target' a cap for another nation and just play club footy in their new adoptive country. These days you have young islanders who refuse caps for tonga or samoa in order to maybe one day get capped by a bigger nation. Am glad a guy like gorgodze didnt do that and said yes thanks when his country picked him at 18yo. He could have easily said no knowing he would probably move to france and perhaps one day represent his new country but he didnt. Everyone's different.
azza
Guest
its all about the money, if the island nations have it then you can create infrastructure and build your way up, no money equals no decent competitions, no decent pay for national players , the king should just mine the seabed and use the natural resources and attain all there wealth through there
Terry
Guest
England, Wales and Scotland are heritage teams, they all come, and are born (well most of them), from the same country - Britain..Ireland is also a heritage team, half their team are British citizens..rugby eligibility rules don't make any sense..but I guess it's easier to pick on the poor PI teams..esp. when white people make the rules..
Ranger
Guest
Maybe the irb should inject more money into the little Pi teams
Pat Malone
Guest
The rules that let kiwis of Island heritage to represent the islands? If the rugby used the Olympic rules, Tonga and Samoa wouldn't naje the world cup
Terry
Guest
PI teams are hamstrung by small economies and populations, bs eligibility rules and bad referring..
Tigranes
Guest
Many of the All Blacks of Polynesian heritage would theoretically be eligible to represent Samoa, Tonga or the Cook Islands, as either they were born in Samoa, Tonga or the Cook Islands or their parents were. They have the choice of either Samoa or NZ, and I suppose as they developed their rugby in NZ, that's where they should play. Many of the Pakeha All Blacks are the long term descendants of European settlers, and wouldn't be eligible for Scotland, etc.
Akari
Roar Rookie
Good post NOS and I agree.
Akari
Roar Rookie
Not quite Kd; Samoan or Tongan, eg, Malakai Fekitoa. By the way, players of non Pacific Islander origin or heritage do use the rules to their own advantage as well (eg, John Hardie of Scottish heritage). I am pleased that they are able to as we get to see the best rugby players plying their trade at the best level ever and that is test rugby.
Terry
Guest
in the real world, you never say no to your paymaster..
Terry
Guest
the heritage rules also allows players who otherwise would not be picked by their national teams in countries they are based to play international rugby..is that good or bad for rugby?