Disenchantment with the IRB

[nqboy]

From Foxsports.com.au

STAR rugby union winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca has quit his Fiji national side in a bid to become an All Black, the Fiji Rugby Union said in a statement today in which they reacted angrily to the news.

FRU said the news "should be a wake up call that the second tier of world rugby was in danger of collapsing".

Caucau – who scored three tries for Fiji during the Rugby World Cup and also served a two-match suspension – reportedly said the FRU could not afford to pay him what he could earn as an All Black.

"I believe I have done my part for Fiji," Caucau is quoted as saying in today's Fiji Times.

"I am switching allegiance and going for a spot in the All Blacks team," said the 24-year-old who returns to New Zealand this week to start pre-season training with the Super 12 Auckland Blues.

Under current eligibility regulations Caucau cannot switch countries because he has played for Fiji in both sevens and fifteens, but a review of eligibility regulations backed by New Zealand and Australia may see rules being re-written.

Caucau said he is making the move in anticipation of a change in the International Rugby Board rules.

FRU chief executive Pio Bosco Tikoisuva said there is no understanding of how difficult it is existing in the shadow of "major rugby economies".

"Can you imagine what signal this sends out to our stakeholders, to our young players who dream of becoming like Rupeni?" said Tikoisuva.

"If we can't keep our best players then where does that leave us?" he said.

The issue is not new for Pacific Island rugby. More than 10 key players in the teams of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga made themselves unavailable to play for their country in the World Cup due to club commitments in Europe.

Tikoisuva said he is disappointed that IRB meetings at the World Cup had produced no new funding or initiatives for second tier unions but had produced an elite and exclusive competition for the nine richest unions in the world.

The IRB is expected to decide in April on the review of the eligibility issue at their next council meeting at which none of the Pacific Island Unions have a vote.

AAP

This is exactly the sort of thing the NRL and the RLIF should be trying to capitalise on. Super League took Mal Meninga over there on a whirlwind tour to sign them all up to isolate the ARL, promised them the known world and did nothing else. Before that Bob Abbott(?) had been doing a lot of development work over there for the ARL, which all went to nothing with the advent of the SL Wars.

Why not put out the feelers and see if we can woo them over from the Dark Side? I guess if we did, the IRB or the ARU would throw money at them from their bulging war chest coffers, but is it worth a try anyway?

 

[ibeme]

Why not put out the feelers and see if we can woo them over from the Dark Side? I guess if we did, the IRB or the ARU would throw money at them from their bulging war chest coffers, but is it worth a try anyway?

I say bid for him anyway, up to high as we can reasonably go. If nothing else, atleast it's pushing up his price tag for union, burning more of their dollars. It's like dummy bidding. The only downside of this would be that other players might be interested in getting themselves in the middle of a bidding war to articicially inflate their price also.

 

[nqboy]

I was actually referring to signing the Pacific Island RUs up to play league, not Caucau himself. If the IRB want to ignore them, they may be amenable to an approach feturing a Pacific Island tournament, inclusion in the Sevens, things like that that could bed league down as the major sport over there.

 

[Alan Shore]

This is the perfect opportunity for us to pounce on the Pacific and send Yawnyawn reeling.

 

[Auckland4ever]

I was actually referring to signing the Pacific Island RUs up to play league

This is something I have been saying for years now.
The difficulty RL may have is the fact there is really only club football a PI player can make his money from, whereas in union there are opportunities playing club football in NZ, Japan, GB & France, there is Super 12, sevens and internationals on top of that.

 

[In-goal]

RL isn't finacialy strong enough to try and take over small unions although big Rupert has the dosh.

 

[El Diablo]

League mst go after Fiji HARD while they can.

League can offer more than Union is offering surely which is bugger all now.


Frustrated Fiji rugby coach McCallion quits

 

[Fampa]

I recall reading that one of the Pacific Islander teams that competed in the 7s earlier this year was made up entirely of union players from the country due to the fact that the league players couldn't afford the trip over. Can't remember which country though, I thought it might have been Fiji or Tonga.

We need to get these countries on board ASAP as John O'Neil has already indicated he is keen on starting a Super12 type Pacific Islander team.

 

[yakstorm]

Samoa did it for this years 7's, they came abit under fire for that move.

Fiji in 92' took a very bold move, bringing their full-strength Union side over for the Sevens, came second in the tournament, and used the money to setup the FNRL.

Unfortunately alot of the hard work done from that has dropped off abit the last few years.

 

[ripper]

League can try as they like, but all the islanders dream of playing for the AB's