Nick Cain reports
Plundered and pillaged, how do Fiji remain so strong?
Any visitor to Fiji will instantly become familiar with the word “Bula!”. The friendly local greeting, whose literal meaning is “life”, as in wishing any new arrival happiness and good health, is around every corner. However, where rugby is concerned the ‘Bula’ welcome has been taken advantage of to the extent that Fijian rugby is in danger of having the life blood squeezed out of it by the world’s elite rugby nations.
Nor can England take the high ground when they meet Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday in the second of this season’s four Autumn Internationals, because they are one of those doing the squeezing. The RFU recently joined the plunder of Fijian rugby by leading rugby nations which has been underway for over a decade.
Nathan Hughes, the barnstorming Fijian-born-and-raised back rower selected in the England match 23 against South Africa – and who has every likelihood of facing his former countrymen this weekend – is the latest frond to be plucked from the palm that is the Fijian Rugby Union’s emblem.
The Hughes’ case goes to the root of the problem. Soon after signing for Wasps, he decided to opt for England over Fiji, declining to play for the South Pacific nation in the 2015 World Cup in favour of securing the three-year residency which would qualify him for England under World Rugby’s ruinously short eligibility regulations.
In doing so Hughes stood to increase his earning power as an international player hugely, and soon after the 25-year-old became eligible for England in July he was named by Eddie Jones in his squad for the autumn series, where he joined Bath wing Semesa Rokoduguni, a Fijian-born British army tank soldier.
It is not right to blame Hughes, or Rokoduguni, for forsaking nationality to maximise on earning power in a game as physically attritional as professional rugby. Nor is it up to England head coach Eddie Jones, or any other international coach, to be World Rugby’s policeman by ignoring talented players who under the current regulations are available to them.
However, it is legitimate to blame World Rugby for failing to get their act together quickly enough to frame the regulations, and the financial framework, required to stop the pillaging of young players from smaller, poorer tier two nations, with Fiji and their Pacific island neighbours, Samoa and Tonga, bearing the brunt.
With a proposed five-year residency ruling still grinding its way through the World Rugby bureaucracy, a quick recce of the 13 players Fiji have been denied from fielding at Twickenham after being poached by elite rugby nations gives an idea of the extent of the problem.
The list is headed by Australia, who have five Fijian-born-and-bred players in the Wallaby squad – Henry Speight, Tevita Kuridrani, Sefania Naivalu, Taqele Naiyaravoro and Marika Koroibete – and a sixth, Samu Kerevi, born in Fiji but raised in Queensland. New Zealand currently have two more Fijian born-and-breds, Waisake Naholo and Seta Taminavalu, France have a further pair in Virimi Vakatawa and Noa Nakaitaci, while Italy have adopted Samu Vunisa.
Scotland were hoping to claim the giant Naiyaravoro after his stint with Glasgow but Australia beat them to it, and, although Ireland, Wales and South Africa currently have no Fijians in their senior squads, it can only be a matter of time.
With French Top 14 clubs having already established academies in Fiji, the spectacular gold medal success at the Rio Olympics Sevens is likely to make the talent-spotters trawling the South Seas even more voracious.
That’s why John McKee, the New Zealander who has recommitted to coach Fiji until the 2019 World Cup, says that a change to World Rugby’s eligibility ruling cannot come soon enough:
“The Fijian Rugby Union opinion is that 36 months is too short a time to qualify to play for another country, and to extend it to 60 months would be more suitable – while giving it time to assess whether that is the right migration period.”
Having made advances which saw Fiji remain competitive against England, Australia and Wales under his aegis at the 2015 World Cup, McKee believes that national and club talent scouts from overseas raiding Fijian talent stock on a regular basis is a deep concern.
McKee argues that no country has an endless reservoir of talent – not even the athletically gifted Fijians, who have gone to France in such numbers that they are knee deep not only in the Top 14 and Pro 2 but also the Federale semi-pro leagues below them.
“Fiji has a small population at just under 1 million people, and it has had a big effect on the domestic game. It’s been a big drain, and one that a lot of much larger countries could not cope with. It affects the playing base because their absence means that local players lose out on having talented opposition to compete against.”
However, the much-travelled McKee, who since 2000 has done the hard yards coaching Montferrand (now Clermont), Connacht, Cornish Pirates, SW England Academy, the Pacific Islanders, Tonga and Australia U20, is a glass half-full operator.
McKee says he did not have to think hard about staying with Fiji. “There was a lot of media speculation linking me with jobs like Japan, but the offers were informal – and I see a massive upside in working with Fiji. There is so much in terms of potential and competitiveness, and to continue that on from 2015 is pretty important. I think we can be quite a challenge in 2019.”
McKee has been instrumental already in turning Fiji into a difficult prospect for top tier sides, and he has also been a main mover in the inclusion of a new representative side, the Fijian Warriors, in the Australian National Club Competition in 2017.
McKee says that participation in this league, which underpins the Australian Super franchises, should have big benefits. “It will give young players an incentive to stay in Fiji longer. It will also perhaps mean that they secure better contracts when they do go overseas, joining clubs where they get good coaching and fitness training on a continuous basis, as well as ensuring their availability for Fiji.”
He is also upbeat about the strength of his squad this autumn – which includes Olympic gold medalists Vatemo Ravouvou and Leone
Nakarawa – as well as the set-piece and tactical gains Fiji continue to make.
McKee says that barring a couple of injuries, to Toulon’s Olympic gold wing Josua Tuisova and Worcester lock Tevita Cavubati, everyone is available, and that a few players will be disappointed to miss out. “Josh Matavesi has also been playing well for the Ospreys but was not selected, and nor was Toulose wing Kunabuother li Kunatani. He’s another who is high
“Fijian rugby is in danger of having the life blood squeezed out of it by the elite rugby nations”