Samoa want piece of the Super pie
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:29
Samoa are looking to create a Super Rugby side to compete in the Super 14 by playing their 'home' matches in New Zealand and Australia.
The controlling body of the Super 14, SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby), have been actively looking to expand the competition for some time now, and various formats have been suggested for an expanded tournament.
SANZAR's latest expansion talks included rugby officials from both Samoa and Fiji, although Tongan officials were absent from the August 4 meeting in Apia, Samoa.
The Pacific Island nations are desperately trying to fortify their weakening position on the rugby ladder, something which has not been helped by the sub-standard Manu Samoa side selected to face New Zealand at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth on Saturday.
There has been talk of a combined Pacific Island team entering the Super competition, but Samoa Rugby Union (SRU) Chief Executive Peter Schuster is campaigning for a separate entity entry for each nation, with SANZAR expected to change the Super tournament radically from 2011.
Schuster revealed that financial reasons were high on the agenda, and he was keen for a Samoan team to play their matches at Australian or Kiwi venues where the gate revenue would be much higher than in Samoa.
"Those are the options that they are looking at, where you can get good gate money and whether you go to Australia or Mount Smart," Schuster told Yahoo!Xtra.
"All these things are important information for the viability of the teams."
"That [stand-alone entry] would be the preference. We would like to have our own franchise in the Super Series and also a test team in a series.
"That would give you more depth of players and also allow us the retention of good players. At this point of time they [SANZAR] have to make a decision around mid next year.
"For us, and for Tonga and Fiji, we are looking at exploring the viability of professional opportunities. We need to give some options to the SANZAR group."
Schuster further explained that it was imperative for the Pacific Islands to be included in the Super tournament if they were to progress, and provide their own players with a professional set-up, which would lessen the player drain that the Islands currently experience.
Most of the top Samoan, Tongan and Fijian players move abroad to play professional rugby, simply because there is little or no money to be made playing rugby in the Pacific Islands.
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who is also the chairman of the Samoan Rugby Union, convened the SANZAR talks in Apia, which were attended by New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) chairman Jock Hobbs and his Australian counterpart Peter McGrath.
"We're happy with progress of the initial consultations with SANZAR and the possible opportunities for the Pacific Unions to talk to all the parties in SANZAR as any future changes which could open up opportunities for the Pacific Unions will require a unanimous decision by the SANZAR members," said Malielegaoi.
Back in the nineties, Samoa were involved in the Super 10 tournament, the predecessor of the Super 12 and Super 14 tournaments.
They played most of their home matches in Auckland, with a lesser number of matches played in Apia.
