2023 - Oceania Tri-Nations (Pacific Championship)

[Clarkent]

Did Arthurs turn down the Kiwis is that confirmed? I mean, isn't he half Pakeha, so I'd assume he'd have pretty strong NZ roots. Anyway, all good for him to play for Samoa, he's been in great form this year, and he likely would only have made NZ A.

I was watching Royce Hunt on the Sky Sport show with Adam Blair and they asked him why as a Maori he chose Samoa over NZ and he said simply because they asked first.

Which Samoans do you think are going to go to Samoa? I would have thought this year would have been the year to swap for the NZ Samoans in the team but they all looked pretty comfortable being NZers last night (well aside form Nelson, he was all over the show, singing the anthem loud, then hand on heart, then hand on his Samoan tattoo - are they called Pe'a? Excuse my ignorance - or maybe he's got ta moko in there as well). Hope it's not Moses, he'd be the one I'd be most gutted about.

Nu Brown has benefited from our hooking crisis, and after reading a few articles/interviews about/with him I don't begrudge him, he's pretty proud to be both a NZer (well a Cantab which is close enough ) and a Samoan, so good way for him to finish of his international career.

Also, I enjoyed the haka v siva tau off, lot of passion and good that no punches were thrown.

I was joking about Arthur's picking Samoa over the Kiwis I won't be surprised if he ends up playing for the Kiwis in the future tbh. The Samoan boys in the Kiwis looked happy to me too. NAS was probably the only one that looked like he wanted to be in the samoan team to me lol I thought I was the only one that noticed that lol. Royce Hunt you can tell is a proud kiwi and also a proud Samoan. I think he'll be proud to play to both nations. Leota for me is a tough one. I remember him saying in the past he wanted to represent the Kiwis to make his grandma proud. Tbh I reckon Fisher-Harris is the only reason keeping Leota in the Kiwis team he's a huge player for the Kiwis man.

That haka and Siva tau face off was amazing. Especially the toa boys eyeing up the Samoan heritage boys in the Kiwis squad, I wished the game lived up to the hype after that lol NZRL should organise a tri series with Samoa and Tonga in nz and stop relying on the aussies for games because they don't take the international game seriously

 

[Matua]

Yeah, agree on Royce, also hilarious he has the worlds strongest Aussie accent.

 

[Coastbloke]

Alright, onto next week with NRL rules, non-neutral Ref, a bunker stacked with Aussies and a half full AAMI..In war they’d call it sabotage..

 

[Jim from Oz]

23,269

Very good attendance.

Just imagine how many more people would have turned up if it wasn't a half-arsed tournament LOL

 

[Last Week]

Id handle it this way. Add the following to the tournament rules...

Tournament consists of two Asia Pacific Nations, one European nation and a qualifier. So even if England come last all they'd need to do is beat France / Euro Champs in a mid season play off test to re qualify.

If England start consistently finishing 4th, it would be a sign for me that we were ready to expand to a 5 or 6 nations tournament

The issue with that is is that the 4Nations was owned by the ARLC, NZRL, and RFL. There's no way that any of them are going to fund a tournament where their team don't directly participate.

I personally don't see it as an issue, rather it exposes the real issue with international rugby league. Which is the lack of interest/commitment from current and prospective stakeholders. That being admin, fans and players.

The Kangaroos should be selling out any stadium they play at in the east coast of Australia. They're the most dominant national team of any code in Australia. They should dwarf the All Blacks.

France (fans, admin and players) should be taking their national team seriously.

If those two are done, there is legitimacy to international rugby league.

 

[jim_57]

Just bring back the 4 nations in non WC years.

Pacific championship is played between Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, PNG, winner is the 4th nation when the tournament is in the southern hemisphere and Euro Championship winners are the 4th nation when its in the northern hemisphere. We already figured it out in the 2010s and then abandoned it for no sane reason.

Yeh I’d be down with that, I wouldn’t mind seeing a full regional championships once a World Cup cycle though. The other 2 years can be 4 Nations, with a goal of expanding it to 5 or 6 in time once it’s established again.

 

[This Year?]

Friz with peroxide is a bizarre sight.

 

[Last Week]

Friz with peroxide is a bizarre sight.

Wasn't there a rumour going years ago that players did that to trick drug tests?

 

[bazza]

I wished the game lived up to the hype after that lol NZRL should organise a tri series with Samoa and Tonga in nz and stop relying on the aussies for games because they don't take the international game seriously

I am hoping that the plan is to have a 3 team series with the one of Aus, NZ, Tonga, Samoa playing against England
So next year NZ tour England while Aus, Tonga, Samoa play the pacific Champ, then the following year Aus tour England and Pacific Champ is NZ, Tonga, Samoa

 

[jim_57]

I am hoping that the plan is to have a 3 team series with the one of Aus, NZ, Tonga, Samoa playing against England
So next year NZ tour England while Aus, Tonga, Samoa play the pacific Champ, then the following year Aus tour England and Pacific Champ is NZ, Tonga, Samoa

Why should Tonga & Samoa get automatic preference over PNG and Fiji though? The winner of this years Pacific Bowl should at least get a playoff against Samoa or Tonga for a spot in the top tier.

 

[bazza]

Why should Tonga & Samoa get automatic preference over PNG and Fiji though? The winner of this years Pacific Bowl should at least get a playoff against Samoa or Tonga for a spot in the top tier.

agree - there needs to be a mechanism to allow those teams to move up. Guess a final game after both between lowest Champ and highest Bowl team

 

[jim_57]

agree - there needs to be a mechanism to allow those teams to move up. Guess a final game after both between lowest Champ and highest Bowl team

Top tier should be 4 anyway so next year a playoff should happen between PNG/Fiji Vs Tonga or Samoa, or they simply sub in for any team that tours England.

Given that the mid-year international is scrapped and post grand final would be too late I’d say unfortunately we will just get some combination of Aus, NZ, Tonga & Samoa while PNG & Fiji are left in the 2nd tier again.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Why should Tonga & Samoa get automatic preference over PNG and Fiji though? The winner of this years Pacific Bowl should at least get a playoff against Samoa or Tonga for a spot in the top tier.

Yes, I would have done a play off this year between Samoa (3rd place) and the winner of the bowl instead of a bowl final.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

agree - there needs to be a mechanism to allow those teams to move up. Guess a final game after both between lowest Champ and highest Bowl team

Yes, Fiji are damn unlucky when it comes to these sort of opportunities.

2008 WC Semi finalists and instead of gaining a spot in the 2010 SH 4 Nations, PNG (2009 Pacific Cup Champions) were admitted instead

2013 WC Semi finalists. Instead of that achievement qualifying them automatically for the 2014 Four Nations, they were made to play a qualifier against Samoa which they lost.

2017 WC Semi finalists beating NZ on the way and by this stage the 4 Nations had been scrapped. Tonga were given all the hype, attention and opportunities by doing the same thing... making the semis beating NZ on the way. It's fair to say that Tonga are more commercial due to their large supporter base but when the 2019 Oceania Cup rolled around, Fiji were automatically placed in the second teir instead of there being a 4 Nation top tier (Aus, NZ, Tonga, Fiji).

In 2022 Fiji's WC SF streak finally came to an end but they went out in the quarters against one of the best Kiwi sides of all time by just 6 points. When the Pacific Championships were announced, and it became known that Tonga wouldn't be taking their place alongside Samoa, NZ and Australia, Fiji were not considered as a replacement to make a 4 Nations tournament despite making it to the same stage of the WC as Tonga.

 

[Last Week]

Why should Tonga & Samoa get automatic preference over PNG and Fiji though? The winner of this years Pacific Bowl should at least get a playoff against Samoa or Tonga for a spot in the top tier.

I agree, but the answer is simple. Money.

Tonga and Samoa are more marketable than Fiji at the moment.

They're trending.

 

[Matua]

It's straight up stupid not to have had Fiji in "Tonga's" place.

 

[jim_57]

I agree, but the answer is simple. Money.

Tonga and Samoa are more marketable than Fiji at the moment.

They're trending.

Pretty much, and from a commercial point of view I get it. Leaving the 2 pacific nations with the most potential and homegrown players to languish in tier 2 is a pretty ordinary way to treat them though.

 

[Perth Red]

It’s clear a 5 nations is way to go and no need for a final.
samoa, tonga, fiji, aus, nz, png with one team touring uk.
cook is can play Lebanon and France in a tri nations

or 5 nations with aus, nz, eng, Samoa and tonga
With png, France, fiji and cook is playing in a 4 nations
Every other year someone tours eng and France and we mix up the pacific championship with whose left

 

[taste2taste]

Anyone know why the Kiwis and All Blacks no longer perform the traditional Ke Mate ?

I find the new Haka too long and not as intimidating as the Ke mate

 

[Wb1234]

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