Fiji questioning PNG's direct entry

[yakstorm]

Morris queries direct entry
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=33024
THE Fiji National Rugby League Bati coach Shane Morris believes Papua New Guinea should not receive direct entry to the 2008 world cup, which will be held in Australasia.

PNG, which is rated above Fiji in the rugby league world rankings, is likely to get a direct entry in the ten-nation competition.

Morris said the Fiji Bati is capable of beating the PNG Kumuls.

"There are talks of direct entry for some nations and PNG is one of them," Morris said.

"I don't feel that PNG should get a direct entry. We can beat PNG. Both Samoa and Tonga can do the same. I will be talking with the Rugby League International officials."

World champions Australia, New Zealand, England, France and Papua New Guinea are expected to receive direct entry.

The other nations will have to play in the qualifying rounds.

The 2008 world cup will be the sport's first since the failed event in the United Kingdom in 2000 which had 16 countries. Details of which teams will have to qualify will be finalised next year.

Morris said Fiji will face Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands in the playoff. He said two nations will qualify for the world cup while the third place team will have to play against the bottom placed European nation.

In its recent meeting the Rugby League International Federation set up rules regarding the make-up of each country's squad to avoid a repeat of the situation in 2000 when Lebanon fielded a team comprised entirely of Australia-based players.

The new rules require every squad to contain at least six players who have either played in the relevant domestic competition for at least one year, or who have played in one of that nation's junior international teams in the 18 months prior to the tournament.

Meanwhile, New Zealand are expected to host three of the pool matches in the 2006 Tri-Nations series between Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.

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[BatiFan]

A valid argument, but with only 10 teams will make it hard for nations like Fiji to make it. Would be a real shame not to have Fiji, Samoa or Tonga in the World Cup, but one or all of them may indeed miss out.

 

[milton]

If the qualifying for the world cup in the pacific is a close contest as well as the pacific teams in the world cup it shows the next world cup could have 14-16 competitive teams in it.

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

If the qualifying for the world cup in the pacific is a close contest as well as the pacific teams in the world cup it shows the next world cup could have 14-16 competitive teams in it.

If this nations don't qualify or take part in the 2008 RLWC . You might not see them again in the next RLWC .

 

[Big Bunny]

On the surface it's hard to see how Fiji would miss out, but it all depends on how the qualifiers are structured. If the top 10 teams make it through you might have the cup looking more like a Pacific Cup with guests France, England and MAYBE a Celtic nation or two

 

[The Observer]

I don't have any prob with PNG's direct qualification. PNG is the 5th strongest RL nation in the world; it has a 4.5 million population, which is bigger than NZ's 3.8 million. OTOH Fiji's is around 700,000. Also, PNG has a large player base which is probably comparable to NZ.

Anyway, if what Morris says is true, the Pacific gets two spots and a repechage spot, so Fiji have several chances to qualify.

PW, it would be sad if RL packed up in one of the PIs just because they didn't make the main RLWC, they'd probbaly get the chance to play in the Emerging Nations WC (hopefuly one will take place!).

Not sure why the RLIF isn't going to regionalise the European qualifiers. That would make most sense, and I could see the following nations qualifying (the ones in bold are the likely qualifiers) would be:

PACIFIC - Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cooks, (New Caledonia, Am Samoa, Niue)
HOME NATIONS: Wales, Scotland, Ireland
MEDITERRANEAN - Lebanon, Serb, Morocco, Malta (Greece, Italy, Portugal probably won't be eligible due to new minimum standards for domestic players)
THE REST - MAINLAND EUROPE, AMERICAS, ASIA - Russia, Georgia, Holland, Germany, USA, West Indies (Estonia, Argentina, South Africa, Japan, Singapore won't meet standards)

So Samoa, Tonga, Wales, Lebanon and Russia would probably join the automatic qualifiers. Fiji could beat Russia if there were a playoff between the two, but that system of qualifiers would give a good mix.

 

[The Observer]

Big Bunny, you're right that the WC would like like an expanded Pac Cup.

On another point, its possible that a nation like Samoa may not satisfy minimum standards for domestic players, and thus not make the main event, given their history.

 

[Matterhorn]

on a postive note........making the world cup now would be 'The Holy Grail' for a lot of smaller countries now.

 

[roopy]

PNG would find it hard to beat Fiji, Samoa and Tonga with full strength squads - and they may actually find it harder to beat them in the WC - because the other three teams will have had to work really hard to make the top ten, so will be better teams for it.

It may actually make PNG a much stronger side if they have to qualify - as opposed to getting dropped into the finals without doing the hard work the 'qualifiers' will have to do.

France would probably qualify easily - but they would also benefit from having to put in the hard yards in the qualifying tournament.

 

[screeny]

Like Observer, I have no problem with PNG gaining direct entry. They're RL mad with the sport played throughout all levels of society and in great numbers. So the RLIF is telling the other regional nations that this kind of nationwide development work means something.

PNG don't exactly offer their players a multitude of experiences, so guaranteeing a WC berth is the least the game can give back to PNG. The other Pacific nations just aren't anywhere close to PNG's level of development, and therefore shouldn't be classified alongside PNG.

On another note, Morris says that two of the four Pacific sides he mentions will qualify with the third repechage against a low European based side.

I presume that two European spots will be available too, which begs the question, what process will the likes of SA, USA and Japan go through to qualify. If what Morris says is right, there's no room for these residual, ROTWorld nations, to qualify.

It seems that either Morris must be guessing, or that the RLIF have a lot more planning to do!

 

[The Observer]

RLR said that European qualifying formats should be determined at an RLEF Board Meeting in Feb-March 2006.