Development slowly building in the Pacific Islands

Pat Lam: Coaching the United Nations

15 NOVEMBER 2006

A Total Rugby feature IRB


2006 has been a big year for rugby in the Pacific Islands with heavy investment in new structures and competitions breathing new life into the game in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

In the past, the three unions have been ill-equipped to deal with the strong demand for rugby in the region but now they’re receiving not just financial aid, but also the expertise needed to turn the islanders into a real force in the game.

Earlier this year, the three countries went head-to-head in the Pacific 5 Nations, now to be called the Pacific Nations Cup, but for the current UK tour they have become one - the Pacific Islands – under coach Pat Lam.

As a former captain of Samoa who also played Sevens for New Zealand, Lam knows all about the idiosyncracies of the islands and welcomed with open arms the new competition. For the sake of playing as much top level rugby as possible, though, he’s also fully behind the notion of bringing red, white and blue – in this case Tonga, Fiji and Samoa – together under one banner.

“Playing together as a team and getting quality games was vital so now the players know that every year there is the Pacific Nations,” he told Total Rugby. “At the end of the year they normally tour but this year it's the combined team so I think hopefully from this and from the Pacific Nations next year, we'll build nicely for the world cup.”

The Pacific 5 Nations held earlier this year was a major success and, with Australia A set to join the Junior All Blacks, Japan and the three islands in the newly-named Pacific Nations Cup next year, even more of that crucial regular competition is guaranteed.

The seven million pounds of IRB funding has also allowed the Pacific Island Nations to set up High Performance Units for their elite players.

“The raw talent that comes out of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa is huge - these guys are talented,” said Peter Murphy, the newly-installed head of the Fijian set-up. “They haven't been exposed to a high performance set up before and if we get that across then all three will have pretty competitive rugby teams.”

For Lam, however, this month in the UK is all about bringing the best out of a collective, and balancing the development of players with public back at home hungry for success.

“There's a lot of expectation back in the islands,” he said. “They'll all be up until three, four o'clock in the morning watching the games and the boys know that. We realise that there is a responsibility. If we do well there are huge benefits on and off the pitch for pacific island rugby, so it's a great challenge.”

Lam’s side showed plenty of early promise against Wales at the Millennium Stadium at the weekend. The 38-20 score line may have gone against them, but they did easily enough to ensure that Scotland coach Frank Hadden will be taking them seriously on Saturday at Murrayfield.