Cook Islands aim to make most of ‘lucky’ reprieve
The Pacific region plays host to the first leg of another World Cup play-off game next Saturday when the Cook Islands face Hong Kong and, rather like the saga involving Germany, the Cook Islands accept they are fortunate still to be involved.
The islanders’ participation seemed to have ended last August when they unexpectedly lost 13-9 to Tahiti, but afterwards there were murmurings as to the eligibility of two of the Tahiti players – Guillaume Brouqi and Andoni Jiminez – and World Rugby investigated further.
It was a complicated case – aren’t they all! At the time of the World Cup match both players were seemingly eligible on the three-year residency rule but attention turned to when they made their Tahiti debuts back in 2013.
Further investigation offered up evidence that Jimenez had been resident in Tahiti for only 24 months at that time, while Broqui had returned to France for a long period in 2012, during which time he claimed that he had been receiving treatment for a serious back injury. That long interruption to his residency was to have repercussions.
The independent judicial officer Tim Gresson of New Zealand ruled that both players were ineligible when they played against the Cook Islands in 2017 because they had been ineligible in 2013 when they made their debuts and also, curiously, noted that as Brouqui had scored a try and Jimenez kicked a penalty they could be deemed to have played a significant part in the game.
It seemed ridiculously harsh with many pointing out the precedent of Scotland’s much-capped prop Dave Hilton who, when his ineligibility was discovered, was then allowed to play club rugby for three years in Scotland and requalify on residency grounds and play for Scotland again, all of which seemed to go directly against Mr Greeson’s ruling.
It’s also a moot point whether the actual scoring of points signifies an undue influence on what is meant to be the ultimate team sport. That seems remarkably simplistic and a tad contrived. Who is to say they had any more influence on the game than say Tahiti’s loose head prop or main lineout forward?
Whatever, Tahiti, like many smaller nations, are completely potless and didn’t have the wherewithal to contest the decision further and were also mindful that they now have a £50,000 suspended fine hanging over them for the next four years. Time to move on.
The Cook Islands coach Stan Wright – a former European Cup winner with Leinster – accepts totally that his side have been lucky to get a second chance.
“From my point of view we’re very lucky to be getting this chance. Whether we earnt it or not that’s not for me to say but I can say we’re very lucky to have this opportunity and from the boys I’ve spoken to everyone is excited at the prospect.”
Wright has used the time well. There is no question that the Cook Islands underestimated the threat last year of Tahiti, who they habitually thrash, and relied almost exclusively on domestic players thinking they would comfortably get them through to the next stage.
The Cook Islands do, however, have access to a considerable number of decent Cook Island heritage players in New Zealand and Australia and, having been given a reprieve, Wright has been furiously tapping them up and persuading many to fly over for a trial game this weekend ahead of next week’s first leg. They have also been burning the midnight oil making sure the paperwork stacks up because they can expect to have their lineup closely scrutinised.
“Bar some of the good local boys from the islands it’s a whole different crew coming from New Zealand and Aussie and Europe,” says Wright. “I’ve been fortunate a lot of guys have made themselves available whereas for the Test against Tahiti there weren’t as many guys available to be selected so I’ve been fortunate in that respect.”
Among those are former New Zealand U20 lock Shahn Eru and Rugby League professional Tyrone Viiga, former Otago captain and hooker Sam AndersonHeather and No.8 Stephen Setephano who has been playing for Grenoble. Hong Kong will arrive after an impressive first ever Asia Nations Cup triumph, having taken full advantage of Japan’s absence with the Cherry Blossoms not needing to qualify for next year’s World Cup which they are hosting.
“We’re going into the dark with Cook Islands. We know very little about them and there is not a lot of footage to be found so we have to do our research and see how we prepare,” says coach Leigh Jones,
below. “I am assuming they will be pretty big and physical up front and that will be our first hurdle.”
With an 18 hour time difference, the logistics are going to be very challenging and even by leaving the islands first thing on the Sunday morning Hong Kong won’t get home until Tuesday their time. Ahead of the return game on the Saturday.
Jones says: “We have got to be careful not to over acclimatise down there, otherwise we will lose any advantage we might have on that front for the return game which will come around very quickly. For that reason, we are planning an in and out strategy, trying to stay on Hong Kong time as much as possible. It’s not ideal, in fact it’s a very difficult trip to get your head around but this is a unique couple of rugby matches and all of that is part of the challenge.”