All Blacks trip has Samoa buzzing
This is doubly so, because the All Blacks have a history of capping Pacific Island players, who then disappear into the wilderness thanks to the eligibility rules.
As an All Black great told me this week, where there's a will there's a way. If the money-hungry NZRU and IRB want to stop treating those nations in a condescending way that evokes colonial exploitation, they can do it.
Unfortunately the odds are this will be a token gesture. Even then, Samoa will probably face an All Black team weakened by the Super Rugby final. Tonga and Fiji are still in the cold.
Sport and Recreation Minister Murray McCully jumped on the bandwagon - one that was parked in a distant garage before finding its way to Apia - and said all the standard, obvious things this week. But who will keep fighting in Pacific Island rugby's corner after the dust settles next July, when the issue is no longer a gleaming, exciting ratings winner? That's the real test.
All Blacks to start 2015 test season in Samoa
The Apia match is great news and the PI teams are slowly winning their dues, including fair scheduling at future World Cups. This is an exciting moment in New Zealand, Samoan and Pacific Islands history but it also smacks of pragmatic grandstanding.
There has been a conspiracy against these teams and one home match - featuring a below-strength All Black team - doesn't suddenly change that or the patronising attitudes which caused the maltreatment in the first place.
Quotas not the way to go
The Springboks' form is not flash, their World Cup preparations rather scratchy, and they now face implementing a racial quota system. South Africa's social and political history is so sad, and the results so complex and debilitating, that we dare not cast judgment on the sports quotas. But on a pure sporting level, this cannot be good for South Africa's World Cup chances.
South Africa has not shaken the effects of the dreadful apartheid system and maybe rugby has not done all it can to ensure there is a deep-seated transformation. We are too far removed, too cushioned from such tragedies, to comprehend the situation, what might be done, or the political forces at play.
But leaving social implications aside, forcing quotas on international sports teams is a recipe for disaster especially if they are dramatic and rushed.
As reported this week, government pressure has led to the Saru demanding half the Springboks are non-white by 2019. Saru reportedly wants at least seven players in each 23-man squad to be non-white next season - a World Cup year - with five on the field at any one time. At the very least, it means a late change in planning for coach Heyneke Meyer including tricky contingency plans.
Former Bok Joel Stransky - a superb TV match commentator - is certain this will not dilute the quality of the test team. Stransky's heart is in the right place, but in the short term his confidence is misplaced.
Consistency must rule
Here's a message to the Warriors, our forever underachieving league club. You need to take dramatic steps to get rid of the inconsistent players who are letting the club down.
Feleti Mateo would be at the top of my chopping list, and it goes without saying that Dane Nielsen has to go. The committed performers, like Simon Mannering, deserve better.
A concern is this: what moves are possible when the two owners are at war with each other? Quite frankly, some of us have lost all hope while others with a more detached view spotted the joke a long time ago.
