Pacific Cup 2024

[Blair]

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It took me about twenty seconds to make the connection. Hoppa less so, I reckon.

 

[Matua]

`Can't disagree on the set up by the Aussies, of course they dirtied the pool, they always do, in everything they do, Aussie is a synonym for cheating.
The Tongans sell out stadiums in New Zealand and sing hymns during the tests. Them and Samoa drive around Auckland waving flags from vehicles and hosting street parades as far off as the united states. So yes they are the evolution of the sport there is no getting away from that.

Take a visit to Penrose and drive the blocks of streets around Mt Smart and see Tongan flags flying from houses all year around. We have seen nothing like it from a league audience.

Don't get me wrong, it's good for fans of those countries, but it hasn't been as revolutionary as is suggested. International league is still a distant third cousin to club and origin. Only Tonga has anything close to its top side of the big 4 down here (I don't know enough about the Poms squad to comment on them) and we're watching a dud tournament where we don't even get all teams playing every week.

 

[Matua]

Do you mean the change allowing Tier 2 aligned players to also play Origin?

If so, it seems the only scenario where the Kiwis have been (additionally) disadvantaged is when a player is:

- eligible for the Kiwis; and
- eligible for a Tier 2 nation; and
- eligible for Origin; but
- commits to Tier 2 instead of the Kiwis, for the sole purpose of playing Origin.

The last part is hard to know for sure unless a player outright admits it.

But unless I’ve missed something, that still feels like a pretty small subset of players? maybe Isaiya Katoa?

Plus if the benchmark is beating the Roos and Poms, both Tonga and Samoa have done that over the last few years since having a bigger pool of players who've committed.

So if the change has made things harder for the Kiwis, its at least helped the broader game.

That's only looking specifically at NZ PIs. Think of the Ponga's and Howarth's, Aussie-Kiwis who don't have the opportunity to play origin and for NZ even if they want to, whereas Aussie-Samoans like Luai get the opportunity to play both - Luai is also an Aussie-Kiwi but he's denied that option even if he wants it.

As for the last part we know that a couple of players did so while thinking they were eligible for Origin, and when finding they weren't they switched to NZ not to the PIs (I'm not using the term Tier 2 because how can those teams still be considered Tier 2 if they're beating the Poms, Oz and NZ? Pretending they're Tier 2 is having our cake and eating it).