Pacific Islands left out in the cold under World Rugby proposal

World Rugby’s callous plan to exclude Pacific Island nations from their proposed new global league and instead award a spot to the United States has been met with widespread dismay from the sport’s top players.

Samoa captain Chris Vui says World Rugby's plan will have a 'dangerous knock-on effect' on Pacific Islands rugby.

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World Rugby’s callous plan to exclude Pacific Island nations from their proposed new global league and instead award a spot to the United States has been met with widespread dismay from the sport’s top players.

After initially promising to pick the six best teams from each hemisphere, based on world rankings, and including a promotion and relegation system so developing teams have a chance at the big bucks on offer, World Rugby has ditched that idea for a shortsighted one where they think they can make more money.

Instead of a team from the Pacific Islands, which on current rankings would be Fiji, World Rugby now wants to give the spot to the US, and eliminate promotion and relegation for at least 12 years.

Samoa captain Chris Vui says World Rugby's plan will have a 'dangerous knock-on effect' on Pacific Islands rugby.

Samoa captain Chris Vui said it would be the death of Pacific Islands rugby because players would be forced to choose between their countries or rich foreign clubs.

“This will have the dangerous knock-on effect of luring senior players away from their countries and more towards the clubs, which is the exact opposite of what we’re all trying to achieve,” he said.

The northern hemisphere teams would be made up of the current Six Nations side while the “southern” hemisphere would comprise Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Japan and the US.

The International Rugby Players Council issued a statement slamming the new proposal as harmful to player welfare because of the increased number of Tests and the long-haul travel that would be involved.

All Blacks skipper Kieran Read has voice concerns for player welfare. Picture: Getty Images

Ireland's Johnny Sexton, president of International Rugby Players, said the players had already expressed their concerns about the extra workload but their complaints had been ignored because World Rugby is trying to push its plan through as quickly as possible.

“While players gave this idea a cautious welcome when we met at the end of last year, it now seems like a commercial deal on the future of the game is being negotiated at a rapid pace with little consideration given to the important points we raised with World Rugby in November,” he said.

Around 40 players, including the captains of nine of the world’s top ten international teams, held a conference call this week before releasing a list of their major concerns regarding their ill-conceived proposal.

“After listening to the issues raised by many of the players, we need to be very careful that we balance the commercial needs of the game, with the player welfare needs and ensure the quality and integrity of matches meets expectations,” All Blacks skipper Kieran Read said.

“Fans want to see meaningful games; they don’t want to see fatigued players playing a reduced quality of rugby as part of a money-driven, weakened competition that doesn’t work for the players or clubs.”

Originally published as Pacific Islands left out in the cold under World Rugby proposal