RUGBY ANALYSIS:THIS TEST match is more about laying the foundations for New Zealand in 2011 than what transpires at the RDS Showgrounds this evening. To succeed at a World Cup you need – to borrow US sporting jargon – both the front room and backroom staff at the top of their game.
The front room are the suits – the administrative arm so necessary to on-field long-term progress. If a team achieve consistent success, you can guarantee the administrators are doing their jobs to the optimum level.
Fiji have always been blessed with wonderfully talented rugby specimens, yet this week we heard from their highly frustrated assistant coaches, Mike Brewer and Glen Ella, about their inability to get four players from European or Japanese clubs.
They blame the IRB, but the world governing body insist they received no request for assistance from the Fijian Rugby Union over the release of these players. Requests came in from the Tongan union and the IRB duly secured player release from clubs under Regulation Nine (which guarantees availability for international matches within certain windows, like the current three weeks in November).
There is no doubt the concept of clubs offering two contracts to a player exists – one being for less money if he plays international rugby. I have first-hand experience of it with English clubs offering it to Scottish players during my time as their national coach.
However, in Scotland the coach can unleash the front room wolfhounds on the IRB who, in turn, can force the clubs to adhere to the law. It requires an effective administrator to guarantee player release through the IRB. Can you imagine London Irish not denying Bob Casey the opportunity to play for Ireland?
There is no doubt the gentleness of Fijian culture does not train players to match the wiles of European club administrators.
The front room of the Fijian Rugby Union must look after its players if genuine progress is ever going to be made. There is a long list of Fijian coaches who have ended up on the scrapheap due to a lack of internal support – former Wallaby Greg Smith, former Italian coach Brad Johnstone and the latest casualty, Ilivasi Tabua (known in Australia as the human skewer) was skewered himself by the Fijian union, despite the team performing so brilliantly to reach the quarter-finals at the 2007 World Cup.
The administrators of Pacific Islands rugby in general are responsible for not building on generation after generation of staggering talent. This is due to a long history of tribal and cultural disputes and, in some cases, financial mismanagement.
Currently in Tongan rugby there is a split between those who support the monarchy and those who do not. Their former coach, Adam Leech, contacted me, among others I’m sure, in 2006 to inquire about eligible players, as the union didn’t have a database tracking the movement of their overseas contingent in Europe.
There is no use saying European clubs are hindering performance. Argentina are in a similar position. The front room in Argentina know these clubs can provide their players with match fitness, essential skill development and the week-in, week-out mental toughness required to win Test matches. They also recognise the Argentine domestic competition cannot provide these essential qualities. They export their top players but manage them on the international stage.
Granted, they remain a shambolic financial organisation, but they have managed to get themselves into the Tri-Nations for 2012. Despite many problems, they are delivering for their elite players. Fijian, Samoa and Tonga should be doing likewise; only then will they reap the same rewards as Argentina.
The IRB have invested vast sums of money into supporting the Pacific Islanders. The New South Wales Rugby Union have a long-standing relationship in attempting to support Fiji. Culturally and genetically it is a rugby paradise, but they cannot keep putting their hand out and claiming a lack of support.
Genuine change and professionalism must come from within.
I had the privilege of coaching the current Fijian national coach, Sam Domoni, at the NSW Waratahs. A majestic lineout jumper, in the Mal O’Kelly mould, Big Sam played more than 50 times in Super rugby.
My last game as the Waratahs coach was against Ireland in 1999 – it was Brian O’Driscoll’s first game in an Irish jersey – and I remember joking with Sam beforehand that he knew what to expect from the Irish because he was educated by the Christian Brothers in Fiji. He was badly hurt on that day and it proved a career-shortening injury.
A man of immense character and charisma, he has a deep religious faith that, even in the cynical world of the Waratahs, was always inspirational. I have no doubt Sam is a beacon of leadership for his players, but I would fear for my friend’s coaching future as his hands are tied by an organisation that fails to deliver money or improvement to the 15-a-side national team.
Now, compare that to Declan Kidney and Ireland. Rugby here is in boom time. The IRFU is in rude financial health compared to the Scottish and Welsh unions, who never recovered from disastrous stadium-building projects. The English RFU has lost control of its clubs by allowing their system to be flooded by non-English players.
Kidney has the luxury of selecting high-quality “reserves” this week – like Shane Horgan, Gordon D’Arcy and Leo Cullen, who would walk into most teams in the world – in order to put pressure on his starting XV and develop options ahead of New Zealand in 2011. You see the results on the pitch, but the Irish front office, allied with its backroom, are in good order. With a talented group of players given no excuses, the silverware has duly followed. If Fiji could learn the same lesson rugby’s world order would be altered.
