Unions to unite

Sports

By Andrew Kacimaiwai

A PACIFIC rugby body will be launched in Suva during the Fiji Inter national Sevens Tournament this month to enable the South Pacific Islands rugby fraternity a greater say in the interna tional rugby community. Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa will be the foundation member of the Association of Pacific Rugby Unions (APRU), a regional meeting in Apia last November decided.

That meeting was attended by Inter national Rugby Football Board secretary Keith Rowlands and development officer Bob Stuart. The Fiji Rugby Football Union spokesman, Tevita Ratuva, said early last month that they had approved the concept following the Apia meeting.

“We will have to liaise with the other unions (Tonga and Samoa),” he said, “but the meeting in March will go ahead.”

The APRU is expected to act as the voice for Pacific island rugby unions at IRB executive council meetings. Ratuva said they had notified Rowlands in London of their decision, and he is expected to contact the Samoan and Tongan unions for their opinion as well.

The new body is expected to exclude Australia and New Zealand, but will allow smaller unions such as Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Tfahiti as associate members. Fiji is expected to provide the

first chairman, whose term will run for two years.

At the launching, officials from the three countries will choose their office bearers; the executive secretary is then

expected to contact the other island unions. The APRU is also expected to encourage tours by Under -21 sides during the Pacific Three-Nations tournament in July. A Samoan U-21 side is expected to play tour Fiji in the buildup to the curtain-raiser with a Fiji U-21 side in the opening round of the tournament, when Fiji meets Samoa at the National Stadium in Suva on July 2. A Fiji U-21 side will then tour Tonga in time for the Fiji-Tonga match on July 16.

Ratuva said the new body was partly responsible for Pacific tours by Scotland and a New Zealand Divisional XV last year. The APRU, once formed, is also likely to help organise a tour by the All Blacks following reports that the New Zealand Rugby Football Union is con sidering a Pacific Tour for its full strength side.

New Zealand has especially benefitted from Pacific islands rugby, with a number of Samoans wearing the All Black jersey. All Blacks Michael Jones,

Steven Bachop and Frank Bunce made their international debut playing for Western Samoa. Fijians and Tongans have tended to opt for Australia, with Illie Tabua and Willie Ofahengaue current Wallabies.

The APRU is expected to receive a boost from the timing of its meeting with the second Fiji International Sevens tournament. Pacific island unions last year were unanimous in their support for

the tournament, describing it as an important stepping stone to the more

prestigious Hong Kong Sevens. This

year’s tournament has attracted a record 15 national sides, most of them fielding

their first strength lineups. Returning

this year from the region are Vanuatu,

Solomons, Tonga, Samoa, Australia,

New Zealand and the Cook Islands. The Pacific newcomers are Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.

I Meanwhile, Wales will play four Tests during an intense 15 day tour of Canada and the South Pacific in June. □

Caines Jannit Pacific flyers: Fiji and Solomon Islands play at the Fiji International Sevens in Suva