World boss says Pacific islanders need home
WORLD Rugby would “look favourably” on a Super Rugby team based in the Pacific islands as a potential solution to stop the huge player drain out of the region, according to chairman Bill Beaumont.
On a stopover visit in Sydney, Beaumont acknowledged the need “to find a home” in professional rugby for the vast numbers of Pacific island rugby players who are forced to leave their countries to pursue careers in Europe, or in Australia and New Zealand.
Many never end up playing for Fiji, Tonga or Samoa; either recruited by foreign rivals via residency eligibility, or strongarmed by European clubs to not play for their country.
The Wallabies have five Fijian-raised backs, for example.
“They are being taken away from home, not necessarily all to Europe, but they go away from home,” Beaumont said.
“If you look at the contribution in rugby terms that those islands have made, it’s absolutely enormous isn’t it? Their contribution to world rugby.”
Asked if World Rugby should invest in helping the best Pacific islanders to stay at home, possibly through a Super Rugby team, Beaumont said: “World Rugby already invest a significant amount of money in the Pacific Islands, and we want to help that investment.
“It could well be a Pacific islands team playing Super Rugby. That might be a solution.”
World Rugby has already committed to funding the Fijian team in Australia’s National Rugby Championship this season.
After a catch-up meeting with ARU chief Bill Pulver, Beaumont sidestepped the problems facing domestic rugby but said he was confident Australia could survive.