Tonga Test teaches SANZAAR a lesson

Steve, this Tonga test and the Bleddisloe in Perth next year just shows how narrow minded the administration of rugby is. All but 2,000 tickets were sold out 9 months ahead of the game in a 60,000 capacity stadium! Does it mean that the bridge between WA and RA has been mended? NO many will turn yp in Force colours to show their dismay with Cameron Clyne and his misadministration. All that it shows is that rugby is well supported in neglected area and that RA should look beyond Sydney and the supposed heartlands. The neglect and mistreatment of WA has galvanised rugby supporters against the establishment. I bought 10 tickets but all of us will show our dismay with the state of the administration by wearing blue and backing the opposition against RA biggest brand - the Qantas Wallabies. Cannot support and organization that does not support WA! This is a great sign for WSR!

The real lesson here is that sport is about tribalism. All these educated pro administrators who prob never saw a rugby match before they got the job and certainly never played it, with their ideas about 'the entertainment business' just don't get it. No one cares about their music, PA windups or dancing girls. Their family oriented policy has successfully delivered lower and lower crowds year on year. Worse they are failing to draw the next generation of rugby nuts to the games. What we want from games has not changed in my life time. We want a reasonable entrance fee, we want to have a beer in an embracing crowd atmosphere of US against THEM. We want understandable decisions that we can celebrate or bemoan. And of course we want to win ... but we can have a good time regardless as we are wrapped in a contest with our breathren on the field and in the stand, whether we destroy the dastardly invader or perish valiently - its all condusive to another beer post match and a bit of a yarn. Being in Canterbury I pref want this to happen on an afternoon while there is still some warmth in the day not at night in a bitter wind up from the Antarctic. The Tongan crowd demonstrated this passion for belonging very well. So its all pretty simple stuff so why can't you genius's on yr 6 figure salary's make it happen?

The New Zealand Tongan, Fijian,and Samoan Rugby Brothers where ever they were born or raised will play where the best rugby is, and those that show ability will always play in New Zealand as is evident by the All Black, Super Teams and any other Representative rugby, it shows in the numbers and the majority are New Zealand born anyway! The ethnic Boys playing in any of the Islands are in the main those from New Zealand who can't make it there so they play in whatever Competition they have in the Islands, or as is obvious, they turn to the Mungo game in Australia where they compete brilliantly or go to Australian rugby! The Island RFU's have had money of good proportion given to them to get the game up and running, but it just disappears with nothing to show, so it seems that until some form of good money management is put in place, the Islanders will very likely stay as they are!

I like the sentiment but reality has something else to say. The Japanese market is worth so much money that clubs including our very own Rebels (let alone the Mitsubishi sponsored test series) have come out and said how much of a financial bonus (sponsorship) it was having a Japanese side in the tournament. The PI team can only bring passion and not $. The Drua are subsidized by World Rugby in the NRC. Doing that in Super or anything more substantial would require more of the same. It's a tough conundrum as player wise they could support and excellent team but monetarily it is hard to work.

Who remembers the Pacific Islanders team than combined Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, and played a few tests a few years back? They were great! If it can work (or, used to work) for the Windies in cricket, then why not for the Pacific Islands in rugby? With some home games in Sydney and Auckland, to pay the bills.

Not to mention that NZ is an Island in the pacific so the pacific Islands has 5 SR teams already and is probably very representitive of all PI

"Remarkably at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand there were 120 players who were either born in the Islands or consider themselves Pacific Islanders: that accounts for 20 per cent of all the players at the tournament," Well nearly a third of the combined squads from Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji were born in NZ. What happens when the players that qualify due to the grandparent rule have kids themselves? They won't be eligible to play for those countries, unless they were born there or have established residence, despite their parents having played for them.

Steve, Your comment wrings heavy with an unwillingness to help. Drua going pretty nicely, they bring a high standard and attract support wherever they play ("Tonga" and "Samoa" in WSR was good example). A 10 year plan (3 RWC's away) is required; then bank rolling, and initially managed by 3rd parties with business acumen. The money is out there, not in Australia, but if there is genuine willing by WR/IRB then it can be found.

Cheers peeeko.

All for PI nations progressing, but the following is a bit rich: "League has more than once shown up union. League was the first of the games to pay the players, introduce corner flags and video technology. On Saturday, union was shown up again." Kangaroos test matches V PI nations Fiji 7 Samoa 3 Tonga 1 Wallabies test matches V PI nations Fiji 21 Samoa 5 Tonga 4 Combined PI 1 The Drua are playing the NRC final this weekend

yes to everything you said

One rocking crowd a business does not make. A lot of money was lost in the cost of the AB’s playing in Samoa, it was not a commercial success, so don’t hold it up as if it was. It doesn’t matter how many people join a chorus, in a commercial venture it only matters who pays for the chorus. It would fiscally irresponsible for SANZAAR not to consider the dollars, rugby players have mortgages too you know and no one else is offering to pay them. Investing in the USA is more likely to obtain a return than investing in the islands, whether rugby makes it ‘big time’ or not (whatever ‘big time’ means). Political feasibility is not the same as commercial feasibility and, in my experience, it is safer for business people who have to foot the bill to steer clear of politicians who only know how to spend other peoples money. If league wants to lose money in the islands then I wish them all the best with that but don’t agree it’s a good role model for rugby.

Hi Adam, love your passion mate and the theory of what you suggest is awesome, but the reality of it is it will fail. As others have said its mainly 2 reasons, 1 MONEY, sad but true and the other is they just wont play well together. Thousands of years of waring will not disappear form their mental makeup. The mentality of each of them is they a better than the other. I can't see them ever playing as a cohesive unit. Rugby always has and always will be a 15 man game with each doing their job for the benefit of the team. I would love to see it, but the men to coach and lead that side and bring them together just haven't been born yet.....

I think behind the scenes the NRL have been pushing for Tongan qualified stars to represent Tonga rather than Australia or New Zealand. At the Aussie world cup I think half the Lebanon team were from a lower division club in New South Wales with a few other guys thrown in like Mitch Moses then from the Tigers. Tongans have that very strong family connection so that those born or migrated young are still powerfully connected to family back in the islands and it makes it easier for them to want to play for Tonga. The big catalyst seems to have been Jason Taumololo (apparently the best forward in the NRL) opting to play for Tonga instead of New Zealand. Fifita (former Kangaroo) signed up for them. Tupou went with Tonga. Michael Jennings (a NSW origin rep in the back half of his career) has gone over to Tonga. Great stuff. In regard to engaging the islands at least Twiggy at World Series rugby got the Fijians and Samoans over to Perth. Apparently that was the first time many of that Samoan invitation team had left Samoa. The Drua in the NRC was a good move but it looks as though WSR is the one giving this a shove.

But I think one of the reasons the Tonga match was so successful is because it doesn't happen every week. It was an event. Put that sort of side in the weekly grind of super rugby and you will chase the soul right out of it. Better to have the Islands play off each year with the winner to get an annual test against Australia or NZ. Then the test will have that event feel. The NRL will not for an instant think of putting a PI side in the weekly top tier competition as the money is just not there. But they will definitely not wait another 23 years for Tonga to play Australia.

Of course rugby union s never going to be "big" in America but they can still achieve more revenue from the market there than anything in NZ or the Pacific Islands. Look at the first English Premiership match to be aired on NBC free to air (not NBC gold which it usually is) 3 weekends ago. Harlequins v Saracens averaged 359,000 viewers much less than the 773,000 who watched Man U but more than the 222,000 who watched Tottenham v Cardiff. Super Rugby would kill for those figures in NZ, Aus and the PI

Let's check back in 5 years and see what the landscape is like. The current hoopla surrounding the Aus v Tonga league test won't last. A Pacific Islands super rugby team would be a disaster, both commercially and from a fan engagement point. After the first 5 weeks the gloss would wear off and they'd be another Souhern Kings, Western Force.