IRB denies inaction over Pacific nations [1]
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 11:45. Updated on Friday, May 9, 2014 - 15:53.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has denied being slow to help beleaguered second-tier rugby nations, such as the Pacific island teams.
In the wake of disastrous results for Fiji and Samoa in their respective matches against New Zealand and Australia, there has been scathing criticism over IRB inaction.
The reaction came after Fiji went down 0-91 to the All Blacks last Friday and the Wallabies beat Samoa 74-7 the next day.
In other mismatches last weekend, the Springboks beat Uruguay 134-3 while Wales beat Canada 60-3.
Former Australian Rugby Union chief John O'Neill has questioned where $A30 million ($NZ32.72 million), part of the profit from the 2003 World Cup, had gone.
O'Neill yesterday said Australia's preference for the money was to go towards the development of Pacific islands rugby, but at the end of the World Cup he was told the money was going instead to an IRB development fund, to assist rugby nations all over the globe.
Many nations have since complained they have received only minimal help from the IRB.
Only a trickle has headed to the islands, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported this week.
But Bob Tuckey, Australia's delegate to the IRB and the world body's vice-chairman, told the Australian newspaper that a Stg76 million ($NZ197.65 million) scheme to bridge the massive gap between the code's highest and lowest ranking nations was about to be implemented.
"We haven't been sitting on our hands," Tuckey said.
"We had to get a good handle on the tier-two countries and identify what their needs were. That's where Daniel Collins came in."
Collins, a dual Olympic medallist who ended his international kayaking career in Athens last year, completed a three-month assessment of seven struggling second tier nations last Friday.
His initial recommendations will be submitted to the IRB executive board meeting in New Zealand at the end of this month, with his final report due in August.
Part of the scheme involves a competition involving the four Australian professional franchises, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Japan, with debate over its timing still taking place.
There is a possibility the Waratahs, who favour the competition taking place after the Super 14 competition, might opt out if the other teams' preference for a September-October competition is accepted.
The Australian's rugby writer, Wayne Smith, said although some remedies could be achieved by substantial injections of money to Pacific nations, other solutions were already within the scope of the IRB -- "if it has the courage to implement them".
"Specifically, the international governing body is under pressure to amend its eligibility laws so that islanders selected for the All Blacks or Wallabies would be allowed to play for their native countries once their test careers with the superpowers were over."
He said a classic example would be Radike Samo, the Fijian-born forward who played six tests for the Wallabies last season before being discarded this year.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who originally won the battle for Samo, said a comprehensive strategy needed to be put in place to allow such players to be reinjected into the systems of their home countries.
"Say a native from Samoa, Fiji or Tonga, and I'm going to get into trouble for saying this but I'll say it anyway because I believe it, if they've gone to play for Australia or New Zealand and they've finished their careers with that particular country, I think there should be some mechanism to allow them to go back.
"It's got to be on a case-by-case basis and it can only be one way."
This would open up the way for a number of current All Blacks and Wallabies to play for Pacific nations in the twilight of their careers.
Samoa's New Zealand-born coach Michael Jones, himself an All Black although he, too, qualified to play for Samoa, was critical last Saturday of New Zealand warehousing talent by selecting islander players in their sevens team.
Once those players wear the black jersey, there is no going back, even when the selectors have no use for them because they have such a glut of talent.
Jones said it was regular competition his players needed.
"If it's not the Super 14, and it hasn't panned out that way, then it at least has to be something up there of similar competition and intensity, week in and week out." - Scrum.com