Wynne Gray wonders why the Pacific Islands can never be granted a break.
WYNNE GRAY IS A FORMER SENIOR RUGBY WRITER AT THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD.
HISTORY NEVER REPEATS? Try telling that to Samoa and their rugby-loving followers.
After being part of the Super 10 series they were shut out when professional rugby burst into action in 1996 and a similar fate apparently faces them and Pacific neighbours Fiji and Tonga if the World League is endorsed.
It has the same smell as the landscape leading into the 1995 World Cup when administrators, broadcasters and players jostled for backing and signatures as rugby decided the direction and shape of the game.
In that tournament Samoa played some lively rugby and reached the quarterfinals before they were beaten 42-14 by their Springboks hosts in an ill-tempered game at Ellis Park.
The Samoans were guilty of some rough house play which referee Jim Fleming penalised but he did not pick up on an array of mistakes, racist taunts and foul play from the host nation.
Captain Pat Lam was bitten but when questioned about it at the post-match conference deferred to the hold your tongue warning from technical director Bryan Williams who repeated that message to the team when they boarded their bus.
South African supremo Louis Luyt had assured Samoa that after strong results in the 1991 RWC and again four years later, they would be in the mix for the new professional series and the nation’s rugby officials did not want to disturb that prospect.
They needn’t have been so coy. It didn’t help as Sanzaar began with sides restricted to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa and eventually when expansion followed they added Argentina and Japan.
When plans of a World League emerged it was a similar story with safety for the Six Nations in the Northern Hemisphere and in the other division, the Sanzaar group joined by Japan and the USA.
There was no room in the tournament or financial trough for any Pacific Island nation although World Rugby boss Brett Gosper tried to hose down that absence by talking about a two tier system and promotion relegation.
Big deal. Ambitious and talented players from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are forced to find work for offshore clubs and when they assemble with scant preparation for international duty they manage some reasonable production.
If Pacific Island nations were not on the radar why would World Rugby suggest that Italy should be an automatic entry? They are regular doormats and other nations like Georgia or Spain might have an equal claim for inclusion.
As information emerged and World Rugby insisted they were mulling over a variety of ideas, Gosper spoke about a possible 2022 start for a merit-based 12-team tournament.
Rugby had a duty to innovate and evolve he said and finding those solutions was difficult. A new series would be played twice in a four-year cycle without interfering with the RWC or the Lions’ tours.
Gosper went on to say the Six Nations and Rugby Championship would also be protected.
If that’s the case and they are not going to tinker with those series and the idea is to find the world’s best team outside the RWC why not simply have the winner of those tournaments play-off?
But if those rugby tournaments are retained where for example does the Bledisloe Cup sit?
Does it become a one-off match some years and a three-game series in others?
Concern about the fairness and sustained interest in any schedule and issues around the demands on players and their welfare have to be addressed.
When senior international players voice their worries about a lack of consultation and the attractive brands of rugby in the Pacific Island are neglected you have to again ask about World Rugby being out of touch with their constituents.
Part of the intrigue of a World Cup is that every four years we get answers about who is the top side at that tournament. It’s not a perfect tournament, there are always anomalies with the draw and lop-sided games but it gathers pace from the play-offs.
Adding several campaigns of World League tests between Webb Ellis tournaments will pollute an already messy schedule.
If World Rugby wants a World League and member nations agree then wipe the slate, scrap the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship and start again. See how you like that.