Island sides welcome Australia

Australia have moved to join the Pacific Five Nations and their inevitable inclusion should cement the IRB-run tournament as a long-term fixture on the rugby calendar.

The inaugural tournament has been dominated by the Junior All Blacks but has still been deemed a success by the other participating nations who have relished the chance to play regular fixtures.

The only downside for the Pacific Island nations has been the non-involvement of Australia A, as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga have all stated their development would be greatly enhanced by more games against quality opposition.

"We would prefer to play the Junior All Blacks every week," said Samoa coach Michael Jones.

"We need really hard games like that to keep progressing."

It may be hard to fathom why Samoa want more exposure to a side that hammered them by 50 points but the logic stacks up. It is by playing against seasoned professionals with structured gameplans that the Samoan players learn about football at the highest level.

Jones is confident that if his side had played the Junior All Blacks five times, the margin of defeat would have been less each week.

The Samoans, like Fiji and Tonga, are blessed with natural talent. What they lack, though, is experience and that is why all three nations will welcome the introduction of Australia A next season.

But while Australia's inclusion next season should increase the competition's credibility and lead to the IRB extending its funding commitment beyond the original three years, it will probably do little to help the Pacific Islanders overcome the perennial obstacle of securing the release of their best players.

Most of Samoa's and Tonga's players and a significant number of Fiji's are based overseas.

European clubs are notoriously reluctant to release Pacific Islanders, even though the Five Nations falls into a sanctioned IRB test window.

Fiji's Sireli Bobo was arguably the highest profile player to miss the Five Nations on account of his European commitments. He plays for Biarritz, who made the French championship playoffs, and was reluctant to leave his club at such a crucial time.

Fiji coach Wayne Pivac says the problem of release is one that might never be solved.

"I have seen it from both sides of the fence and market rates definitely come into it. I totally understand where Sireli Bobo is coming from. There was only one decision hewas ever going to make. Biarritz pay his wages and how do you enforcethe legislation that clubs have to release players?

"I know that in the past I have said to certain players that if they stayed, I would pay them a little bit more. That is just part of life. It comes down to individual choice and when these guys get $100 a day from Fiji, as much as I would love Bobo to be playing for us, I have to be realistic.

"I still think, though, that the Five Nations has been a definite success. It has given us regular games which we needed. It would be great to have Australia in there and possibly Argentina as well. We need more teams that can give us competition."

The IRB are expected to rubber stamp Australia's application and expand the 2007 format into the Six Nations as originally planned.