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PARIS - The trio of Pacific Island teams, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, lit up the rugby World Cup with their free-running, hard-hitting style of play but desperately need more internationals to further their foothold in global rugby.
Of the three teams, it was Fiji that impressed most, pulling off a stunning 38-34 decisive pool win over main rivals Wales.
Having secured two wins over Japan (35-31) and Canada (29-16), and fielded a second-string side in the 55-12 loss to pool winners Australia, it all came down to the play-off against the Welsh in Nantes.
Wales were guilty of showing too much complacency against a side expected to fold in the last quarter, and Fiji scored a late try to secure a famous win.
The jinking Fijians then clawed back a 13-point deficit against South Africa in the quarter-final with two converted tries when down to 14 men.
But at 20 points apiece, the Springboks showed enough tactical nous and forward power to pull away for a 37-20 win over the crowd favourites.
Samoa, who had pulled off upset wins over Wales in two previous World Cups, failed to repeat that here after being drawn in a tough group that saw eventual finalists South Africa and England win through from the pool that also included Tonga and the United States.
The Samoans suffered a surprise 19-15 loss to Tonga, who also pushed the Springboks close, forcing the South Africans into sending on a raft of first-choice players warming the bench to eek out a 30-25 win.
But on the back of their good performances, the call from all three Pacific teams carried the same theme: we need more support for our development, and more games against higher tier nations to improve.
The most outspoken proponents of this were Samoa's coach Michael Jones and Fijian counterpart Ilie Tabua.
Both Jones and Tabua formerly played for neighbouring Pacific Rim countries, New Zealand and Australia respectively, and the coaches said the All Blacks and Wallabies in particular had a duty to play more Tests against the Island teams.
Incredibly, the All Blacks have played only 11 Test matches against Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
"We will only get two Test matches in 2008," Tabua complained. "All teams have more Test matches than us. We need more Tests with tier one teams.
"Two-thirds of our players playing against South Africa are with European clubs and the seasons are totally different between the northern and southern hemispheres for players to be released for our Test window."
But Fiji's star scrum-half Mosese Rauluni warned that the composite Pacific Islanders team, aimed at providing more international exposure for the region's sides, was not beneficial as a short-term fix.
The Pacific Islanders, comprising the cream of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, are scheduled to tour Europe for Test matches in November next year, but Rauluni fears it will come at the expense of the individual Pacific teams.
"I think the Pacific Islands concept is great but it should be like the British Lions and play them every four years," he said.
"You are taking away Tests from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. They need games by themselves and to only have two Test matches next year is not enough, we need our games consistently with good competition."
Samoa's outgoing coach Jones, who won one cap for the island before turning to a glittering career in the All Black jersey which included World Cup glory in 1987, said a "more fundamental shift" was required to improve Pacific rugby.
"The gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' still exists," said Jones.
"There are great and well meaning initatives that are put in place, but for me they are not going to really bring about the real change that is required.
"The biggest change is to have Samoan teams in a fully professional league. Whether it's in the Super 14 or if it's in Europe, we don't care.
"We just need a professional league so we can contract our best 30-35 players as they do in the Super 14, having them playing to a template, being able to coach them full time and then be able to play high-intensity rugby week in week out for three months."
Australian Rugby Union (ARU) chief executive John O'Neill has backed a proposal to allow Australia's Super 14 teams to import Pacific island recruits, a plan seen as a way for Australia to honour a pledge to help Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, a source of many Wallaby recruits like Tabua over the years.
O'Neill said he was in favour of allowing each of the four Australian teams in the competition to bring in two imports, provided they remained eligible to play for their home countries.
"Whatever we do won't be introduced until 2009 at the earliest, but we've got an open mind on the subject of imports," O'Neill said.
- AFP
