Selectors look for passion and spirit in first Pacific Islanders Rugby team [1]
Monday, May 17, 2004 - 16:51. Updated on Monday, May 5, 2014 - 11:27.
The top 30 rugby players from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga will be picked for the combined Pacific Islanders Rugby Alliance team to play the All Blacks, Wallabies and the Springboks in early July.
Only the best players will be selected, said Charlie Charters, the CEO of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, in Nuku'alofa on May 12, who has the unenviable task of fielding a team against some of the best in the world, working with a fraction of the budget that those teams enjoy.
"It is important to keep things in perspective, for us to beat all three, I think is highly unlikely. Our operating budget is about NZ$300,000, which is about the equivalent of the salary of one of Graham Henry's technical advisers. This is a team that has not got the resources of the All Blacks, the Springboks or the Wallabies. Is not a team that has been playing together, but it is team that will have passion and spirit, and it will be a competitive team."
Charlie said that the next most important step was the selection of the Islanders team. The selectors are John Boe, coach, Wayne Pivac, Viliami 'Ofahengaue, and Michael Jones, who is also the manager. "There are no country quotas. We are asking the selectors to select a side that will be most competitive, and will be playing winning rugby."
The major sponsor for the Pacific Tri-nations Tournament and the Pacific Islanders is the Lautoka-based company Punja's and Sons and so the tournament will promoted as Punja's Pacific Tri-nations Series, and the Islanders as the Punja's Pacific Islanders. Charlie said that Punja's sponsorship amounted to NZ$200,000, a small amount by international standards, but it is the first time since the late 1980s for the Tri-nations to have a sponsor, "the three Pacific Island rugby unions are very thankful to Punja's for their support to the development of rugby in the islands".
The Islanders will be selected during the Pacific Tri-nations tournament, which will start in Apia on May 29 when the 'Ikale Tahi will meet the Manu Samoa. On June 5 Fiji will play the 'Ikale Tahi in Nuku'alofa, then on June 12 the Manu Samoa play Fiji in Suva.
Charlie said that any Pacific Island players who want to play for the islanders, "should seek selection to play in the Pacific Tri-nations tournament, so that the selectors can see them on a level playing field. We'll only select players who either have represented, or in the future represent, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
"The whole objective of the Punja's Tri-nations series is to make the home union as strong as possible, and the best way we can do that is to say to the players, there is no short cut into the Islanders, you have to make yourself available to either Fiji, Samoa or Tonga, if you are good enough, that is how you qualify to the Islanders."
The 30 players who will be selected for the Islanders will be announced following the Fiji-Samoa game in Suva on June 12.
The Islanders will play their first warm-up game against the Queensland A on June 19 in the Gold Coast, and its final warm-up game against the New South Wales' Warratahs on June 25 at the Aussie Stadium. On July 3 it will play the Wallabies in Adelaide, followed by the All Blacks on July 10 in Auckland, and the Springboks on July 17 in Brisbane or Sydney.
Charlie said that a jersey for the will be on sale in Nuku'alofa at the end of May. With regards to a War Dance and a common Anthem, Charlie said that the dance and the anthem have been commissioned and they will be ready for the players to start practising after the team is announced on the evening of June 12.