The Minnows of the Rugby World Cup part 2 (The Pacific Islands)

As the group stages of the rugby world cup come to an end it seems appropriate to discuss the group of smaller nations. Samoa, Tonga and Fiji these are not like the eastern European nations or North American nations where rugby is a past time taken up by a small fanatical minority. Rugby in the Pacific Islands is at the heart of village and even national life. There is probably not a professional team in the world that does not have a Tongan, Samoan or Fijian on their books. There is also a number of international sides that are grateful to have a number of these natural born rugby players in their sides.

These countries do not have a fair deal and if the IRB does anything from the enormous funds it takes from the world cup it should protect the Pacific Island nations. These nations could be viable test entities challenging for glory at world level. The Tongans today beat the French which would happen more regularly if these players could get together more often. They are prevented from doing this because they have the demands of their professional clubs to fulfill. What other sport would handicap potentially good sides just because they do not have financial clout?

RWC 2011 (The smaller nations Romania, Georgia)

It has been three months since I updated this blog, work, laziness etc have contrived to make me some what slow in my posting. However the rugby world cup has appeared and the writing bug has hit me again. After a week we could talk about the established nations of rugby and the problems they might be having the rustiness the etc. In the first week of the world cup it is most appropriate to talk about the smaller nations. The plaudits so far most go east to the Carpathians and Georgia and Romania, one a new nation and one a re-emerging force.

Rugby in Romania is an interesting but tragic story, it was the sport of the repressive communist regime of Ceaucescu and they were good at it. When the dictator fell the game fell but it was still played but not supported it flickered and nearly died, but thanks to the IRB and the rugby brotherhood it survived and in this world cup the Romanian nation exploded onto the scene as a side who might be a struggle to beat with strong organised forwards and solid defense. .

Georgia has rugby union as a national sport based partly on an ancient wrestling game played throughout the country the majority of the team play in the french leagues. The men of Georgia are large men who take pride in their forward ability. They again they played well against the Scots and I for one am looking forward to the clash of these two nations.

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