Hamish Bidwell
Auckland, October 12, 2020
Ireland midfielder Bundee Aki was born in Auckland to Samoan parents (Photo by Photosport).
It has been 25 years since Samoa last made a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal.
Whose fault is that?
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) appear to be to blame for most things lately, so, are they responsible?
Or is it World Rugby? Australia? Rich French, English and Japanese clubs? Samoa’s own Union? Who?
There is not a Rugby person anywhere that would not like to see a Pasifika side admitted to Super-Rugby Aotearoa. But, again, who is responsible for the fact there will not be one in 2021?
NZR is not cash-rich
Plenty of folk have marked out the long run in recent days and come charging in to have a go at NZR over this Pasifika issue and ordinarily I would join them.
You can accuse NZR of all sorts of things and, believe me, I have tried. But the fact they have not admitted a Pasifika team to next year’s Super Rugby competition is not arrogant or cruel, as has been suggested by some people.
In case anyone has missed it, NZR are not made of money.
In fact, they are really scrambling to sustain the All Blacks and five Super Rugby sides that they have already got, not to mention our men’s and women’s sevens sides and the Black Ferns 15s team, along with the various age-group and provincial programmes they’re responsible for as well.
It has not been a particularly impressive 12 months for NZR, on various fronts. If there has been a flawed way to do something, they have invariably found it.
People, including myself, have been quick to point out that the national body’s faults and rightly so, but they are not wrong all the time.
Right decision
Not admitting a Pasifika team to Super Rugby for 2021 was the right decision, not least because NZR do not have the money to pay for it.
People can pick all the Pacific dream teams they like and waffle on about how much such a side would bring to the competition.
No-one, from NZR on down, is disputing that a Pasifika franchise is not overdue or a good idea.
All that the national body are saying is that it would have a better chance of succeeding if its launch was delayed until 2022.
Teams are not built in a day, or even the few months between now and the start of the 2021 Super season. It takes time to build the infrastructure around a franchise and design uniforms and logos, appoint management and coaches, find and fund players and training venues and equipment.
Samoan Siva Tau before Russia vs Samoa during the 2019 Rugby World Cup match at Kumagaya Stadium in Saitama, Japan (Photo by Photosport).
‘Cannibalising’ Super Rugby sides
We seem to expect NZR to rob Peter to pay Paul here and, in the words of NZR Chairman Brent Impey, “cannibalise’’ the existing Super Rugby sides.
By simply taking a breath and setting our sights on 2022, we can ensure that the proposed Pasifika team enters Super Rugby, well-funded and well-resourced and ready to compete for the title, without compromising NZR’s finances or the position of the other franchises.
If that is cruel and arrogant, I will eat my hat.
The other issue here is that this is not being viewed in isolation. Instead it is being used as the latest evidence of New Zealand’s long neglect of Samoa, specifically, but also Pacific Rugby in general.
Should the All Blacks be playing in Apia, Nuku’alofa and Suva every year? Probably.
Is it shameful that tests against Samoa and Tonga and Fiji are not at least staples of the All Blacks’ home schedule?
Absolutely.
Disappointing situation
We are all disappointed that Samoa’s emergence as a potential international Rugby superpower in the early 1990s did not eventuate.
There is no doubt that Rugby, as a global game, would have benefited from having a strong Samoa.
Fiji, for all their talent, have only qualified for world cup quarterfinals in 1987 and 2007, while Tonga have never emerged from pool play.
Is that NZR’s fault? Is it?
The sight of Samoan, Fijian and Tongan players representing other countries is now commonplace, but is anyone holding Australia or France or England or Japan or the United States to account for the decline of International Rugby in the Pacific islands?
Ireland midfielder Bundee Aki was born in Auckland to Samoan parents. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
And how would having a Pasifika side play Super Rugby in 2021 arrest that?
It is terribly disappointing that players of Pacific heritage who have played test Rugby for teams such as the All Blacks cannot then opt to represent the nation of their or their parents’ birth.
That is something NZR have lobbied for at various times without success but would undoubtedly increase the competitiveness of Samoa and so on.
So, whose fault is it that those plans have not come to fruition?
It is not hard to find sticks to beat NZR with. In fact, I find myself doing that most weeks.
But they are also not to blame for every ill in the game and not obliged to grant every wish that comes their way.
There will be a Pasifika side in Super Rugby one day, but it will not be to NZR’s shame if that day does not come until 2022.
Hamish Bidwell is a Sport Contributor at Radio New Zealand. The above Report and Pictures have been published under a Special Agreement with www.rnz.co.nz
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