https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/03/16/fiji-is-the-next-rising-star-of-the-pacific/ According to that from Meninga the PMXIII are playing fiji in Suva this year.
Let’s just hope we don’t get a repeat semi radradra situation with other promising Fijians and Australia.
Good decision, and playing in Fiji which is great. Mix up the PM13 games, one year PNG, then Fiji and maybe Samoa/Tonga following years.
Shame they can't do both locations each year. They have already shown they are happy for the PM XIII to include players who aren't even in consideration for the Roos, so would be nice if they simply played over two weekends (GF Weekend like past years and the first Weekend after ala 2018). They could swap who gets the first week, but cutting it back to only every second year for PNG will impact their development.
Is it confirmed they are only playing Fiji? Hopefully the intention is to play both or replace the PNG game with a full test..
Yeh, PM13 is huge for PNG. I like that they are taking it to Fiji but not at the expense of the PNG game... Surely they could manage both. I mean the Roos almost never play, so no clash. Hopefully NZ take up the slack with PNG. They are a competitive RL nation just waiting to happen.
NZ unfortunately are never going to tour Samoa, Tonga or PNG etc because they are flat broke. How awesome would it be to see Fiji tour Europe playing a few tests in France and maybe a test in Wales.
I definitely think the time was ripe for some Pacific nations to start tours to the Northern hemisphere. Although I'm pleased with the Oceania Cup, the game keeps leaving France out.. I would have loved to have seen the Kangaroos and Kiwis play a Pacific nation each in warm up Tests before a good old fashioned 3 Test series (Newcastle or AAMI, Suncorp then Eden Park) and Tonga go to England for a 3 Test tour. Maybe PNG to France (as is mooted). Yeh, I'm aware it costs money, but ffs, how long does the sport have to wait before we start taking International activity seriously?
