When the Wallabies play Fiji in Melbourne on Saturday the majority of players on the field will be of Pacific Islander descent. Obviously, the Fijians are Pacific Islanders, but 18 members of the Wallabies’ 34-man squad are of Pacific Islander descent,though centre Samu Kerevi, who was one of seven Fijians, has withdrawn following an ankle injury.
At present, there is also a decent percentage of Pacific Islanders playing for the All Blacks, while there is even a sprinkling in the British and Irish Lions, plus the English, French and Japanese national teams. It raises the a question for the game on a global level: are the Pacific Island nations just becoming nurseries for the top cashed-up countries in world rugby?
It is not as if Australia, at least, is actively poaching lots of Pacific Island players, but the talent is still finding its way to these shores. The vast majority of the Pacific Islanders in the Wallabies squad are the Australian-born sons of migrants, or migrated to Australia at a young age.
In this sense they are no different to Wallabies flanker Michael Hooper, who is the son of English migrants. But there is a key difference. England has a population of 53 million, while Fiji, for example, has a population of less than one million (892,000).
Rugby is hugely popular in the Pacific Islands, but the populations and broadcast revenues in the nations which comprise it are not big enough to create the professional infrastructure needed to keep their best players at home. As a result the national teams of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga have not really progressed very far since the inaugural World Cup in 1987.
Significantly, Pacific Island teams – Fiji (1987) and Western Samoa (1991 and 1995) – reached the quarter-finals in the first three amateur World Cups, but only one (Fiji in 2007) has made the top eight of the tournament in the professional era.
The performance of the Pacific Island nations is at odds with the enormous contribution players of Pacific Island descent have made to the game around the world. Under rugby’s eligibility laws, once a player has played for one country he cannot play for another even if he was eligible by birth or parentage.
World Rugby recently increased the residency period for Test eligibility from three years to five years in an attempt to dissuade major countries from poaching Pacific Island players, but this just means scouts will identify talent at an earlier age.
One practical way to help the Pacific Islanders become more competitive is to allow players who are no longer required to play for their adopted countries to return to their nation of origin or descent. Too often Pacific Island players are capped by a major country, play a few Tests and are never seen again on the international stage.
A recent example is giant Tongan-born second rower Sitaleki Timani, the older brother of Lopeti, who played 18 Tests for the Wallabies between 2011 and 2013, but has not been required since. Timani, 30, started for Clermont in their 22-16 win against Toulon in the final of the French Top 14 last Sunday.
Former Wallabies captain Mark Ella has told Guardian Australia he thinks that letting players return to representing their Pacific Island nation of origin could work. “In principle I agree with it as long as their focus is on their nation of origin,” Ella says. “They could add value and help build the reputation of the Pacific Island teams. I would have no problem with that.”
Which leaves a slightly more awkward question. Does the world of rugby really want to help the Pacific Island nations, or is it afraid they could become too competitive?
