IRB denies holding back from helping struggling nations

SYDNEY - The International Rugby Board has denied being slow to help troubled second-tier rugby nations, such as the Pacific Island teams.

In the wake of disastrous results for Fiji and Samoa in their respective matches against New Zealand and Australia, there has been scathing criticism of IRB inaction.

The reaction came after Fiji went down 91-0 to the All Blacks last Friday and the Wallabies beat Samoa 74-7 the next day.

In other mismatches last weekend, the Springboks beat Uruguay 134-3 and Wales beat Canada 60-3.

Former Australian Rugby Union chief John O'Neill has questioned where A$30 million ($32.72 million), part of the profit from the 2003 World Cup, has gone.

O'Neill yesterday said Australia's preference for the money was to go towards the development of Pacific Islands rugby, but at the end of the World Cup he was told the money was going instead to an IRB development fund, to assist rugby nations all over the globe.

Many nations have since complained that they have received only minimal help from the IRB.

Only a trickle has headed to the islands, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported yesterday.

But Bob Tuckey, Australia's delegate to the IRB and the world body's vice-chairman, said a 76 million ($197.65 million) scheme to bridge the massive gap between the code's highest and lowest-ranking nations was about to be implemented.

"We haven't been sitting on our hands," Tuckey said. "We had to get a good handle on the tier-two countries and identify what their needs were. That's where Daniel Collins came in."

Collins, a dual Olympic medallist who ended his international kayaking career in Athens last year, completed a three-month assessment of seven struggling second tier nations last Friday.

His initial recommendations will be submitted to the IRB executive board meeting in New Zealand at the end of this month, with his final report due in August.

Part of the scheme involves a competition involving the four Australian professional franchises, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Japan, with debate over its timing still going on.

There is a possibility that the Waratahs, who favour the competition taking place after the Super 14 competition, may opt out if the other teams' preference for a September-October competition is accepted.

- NZPA