Our help for Samoa is limited, says Tew

MATHIEU BASTAREAUD Referee: Kickoff: Venue: TMO: TAB odds: ARS: $6.10, $1.11 LUKE ROMANO

As England’s highly paid rugby players are reportedly set to dig into their own pockets to help their cash-strapped Samoan counterparts, the New Zealand union says its hands are largely tied.

Samoa’s Prime Minister, Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi, who is also chairman of the national rugby union, told the Samoa Observer it had become insolvent. Reports estimate the organisation has debts of around $600,000.

He said the union could not afford the insurance payments required for players ahead of their autumn internationals which kick off this weekend with a test against Scotland.

The vast financial disparity when the Samoans meet England at Twickenham on November 25 has been highlighted to illustrate the issue.

England’s Rugby Football Union, expected to generate around £5 million (NZ$9.45M) in turnover from the clash, has agreed to ‘‘donate’’ £75,000 (NZ$) as a ‘‘goodwill gesture’’ to Samoa. That is £75,000 more than the Scottish union will give the islanders this weekend.

New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew told Stuff that Samoa’s plight was concerning and his organisation would continue to provide support where it could.

But he admitted the extent of that aid was limited. ‘‘The reality is the international rugby economy is a fragile beast, and you can shoot all these problems back to what drives our costs up, and that’s the price of retaining our players, which is all coming out of the French market in particular.

‘‘We’d all like to be helping all the developing countries more, but at the moment every cent we generate is spent retaining our players and other personnel, building the community game and keeping our provincial unions going.’’

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said: ‘‘It’s really disappointing, but it’s probably a World Rugby issue. You feel for them. There are a lot of talented young men who can represent Samoa and you want them to be strong.’’

Hansen also scoffed at an Australian report his team could be involved in a A$50 million (NZ$55M) match against Australia’s national rugby league side under special ‘‘hybrid’’ rules, and Tew was equally as dismissive.

‘‘I chuckle at a lot of media reports I read. I haven’t heard anything about it, so there is no point in me doing anything other than chuckling about it.’’

Tew said the report had some foundation, but the likelihood of a hybrid match ever coming to fruition was negligible.