Pacific Tests - June 25th

[Rawschach]

Just finished watching the 3rd game. Fantastic day of entertainment!

NZ were excellent and scored a couple of top class tries, game was pretty much over by half time but it was still an entertaining watch. Manu is a Rolls Royce of a player.

Cook Islands were outclassed but showed plenty of spirit after a terrible first 20 minutes and the rest of the match was an enjoyable tussle.

The best match was PNG v Fiji. Not only were PNG great (Fiji had the same problem as Tonga with no kicking game at the end of sets) but the commentary from Andrew Voss was icing on the cake.

Great to see some of the talent coming through. The fullback for Fiji cannot get a game in the NRL and he was quality. 

I was already looking forward to the World Cup but even more so after that. Wonderful

[StandOffHalf]

By the way, Sky cut late to the Fox Sports coverage and came on air mid-way through the Kukis' pre-match challenge. Bad form by them, but RL is really largely filler for them.

Here are the two anthems in case anyone wishes to make their test match day complete. Two rather lovely anthems IMO.

 

Edited June 25 by StandOffHalf

[Stuff Smith]

57 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

...Bad form by them, but RL is really largely filler for them.

I thought the Sky adverts in the breaks throughout the games absolutely reinforced that opinion.

[StandOffHalf]

17 minutes ago, Stuff Smith said:

I thought the Sky adverts in the breaks throughout the games absolutely reinforced that opinion.

Yeah, bigging up a bumper summer of sport that promised cricket, F1, horse racing, and rugby union - or RUGBY as they emblazoned the wording across the screen. No rugby league to be seen in the package of upcoming highlights.

Very shoddy and disrespectful how they cut to coverage and then cut away. I watched a bit of the Super Rugby on Sky this year to see how RTS was doing and Sky tended to stick with and defer to the NZ coverage, rather than chopping into it and mangling it.

I was a little sad this morning that they cut away from the PNG v Bati so promptly after the match's conclusion. I was looking forward to seeing Fiji's post-match hymn of thanks.

Minor enough grumble in the scheme of things, but they don't let themselves down like this when it comes to other sports.

Edited June 25 by StandOffHalf

[BJW]

6 minutes ago, StandOffHalf said:

Yeah, bigging up a bumper summer of sport that promised cricket, F1, horse racing, and rugby union - or RUGBY as they emblazoned the wording across the screen. No rugby league to be seen in the package of upcoming highlights.

 

IIRC the horse racing they advertised was Royal Ascot which finished last Saturday!

[DavidM]

Wonderful day of international rugby league . I love it . Vossy wonders why there isn’t more , ask the NRL mate . How can you not want to squeeze that environment and atmosphere as much as possible ? I really can’t wait for the WC . Mark down for Sky that they had a picture of an All Black on their planner for the games , that’s just basics . But the occasions were great . But confused about some of the rules used looking ahead to the WC but overall watching international footy just feels  different and better , full of passion and a breath of fresh air we need more of 

[StandOffHalf]

3 minutes ago, BJW said:

IIRC the horse racing they advertised was Royal Ascot which finished last Saturday!

Indeed. Sticking any advert on, in case Fox League show or say anything undesired during HT. Whip the RL off the air!

[The Great Dane]

Of the 34 players to represent Samoa and Tonga yesterday only one (Spencer Leniu) was born or raised in Samoa or Tonga.

Now take a second and let just what a joke that is set in.

[Dunbar]

They were absolutely superb occasions.  I don't think anyone (well maybe one ^^^) would look at that New Zealand Tonga game and not love every second of it.

Edited June 25 by Dunbar

[Damien]

31 minutes ago, The Great Dane said:

Of the 34 players to represent Samoa and Tonga yesterday only one (Spencer Leniu) was born or raised in Samoa or Tonga.

Now take a second and let just what a joke that is set in.

Who'd have guessed you'd have put a negative slant on what was a marvellous day of Rugby.

[The Great Dane]

39 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Wonderful day of international rugby league . I love it . Vossy wonders why there isn’t more , ask the NRL mate .

Why?

It's not the NRL's fault that international RL's reputation has been run into the dirt by decades of uncompetitive fixtures, a series of truly astounding decisions made in both hemispheres starting well before the NRL even existed, and a series of leaders and champions whom are/were arrogant, entitled, and always looking for a short cut rather than committing to the work of actually building the product and the sport on the ground in nations across the world.

In saying that, the NRL's ever-increasing attempts to astroturf it into existence will only hurt it more in the long term.

[The Great Dane]

1 minute ago, Damien said:

Who'd have guessed you'd have put a negative slant on what was a marvellous day of Rugby.

Sometimes reality hurts, but the thing is you can't act to fix it if you refuse to accept that you have a problem.

Which has basically been international RL's biggest issue since roughly the late 80s and early 90s. It chooses to ignore it's real problems in the hopes that they'll just go away.

[RayCee]

I'm flabbergasted that anyone would want to pick on where players originated by birth. Surely, it is known that the standard and facilities in the Pacific Islands is never going to produce players of international standard. If only Island born players were eligible, those games would never had been played or of sufficient quality to being televised. By tapping into a huge diaspora of Islanders, RL has a pool of talented athletes that provide outstanding entertainment. Surely that should be celebrated, not mocked.

[Damien]

14 minutes ago, RayCee said:

I'm flabbergasted that anyone would want to pick on where players originated by birth. Surely, it is known that the standard and facilities in the Pacific Islands is never going to produce players of international standard. If only Island born players were eligible, those games would never had been played or of sufficient quality to being televised. By tapping into a huge diaspora of Islanders, RL has a pool of talented athletes that provide outstanding entertainment. Surely that should be celebrated, not mocked.

Ultimately we get quality international Rugby League played by more than 3 countries. That's a great thing.

[Copa]

7 hours ago, The Great Dane said:

Of the 34 players to represent Samoa and Tonga yesterday only one (Spencer Leniu) was born or raised in Samoa or Tonga.

Now take a second and let just what a joke that is set in.

If you try to understand Tongan and Samoan views of culture and identity within both the islands and in Australia and New Zealand, you’ll find your view isn’t relevant at all.

Edited June 26 by Copa

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Copa said:

If you try to understand Tongan and Samoan views of culture and identity within both the islands and in Australia and New Zealand, you’ll find your view isn’t relevant at all.

6 out of 30 of the listed players for the Samoan SU squad are similarly born in places other than Samoa. 80% - and the overwhelming majority of the 'name' players. It's not a specifically rugby league thing at all. 

It will only become a problem if the flow of Tongans and Samoans with at least a grandparental connection stops.

[Pulga]

1 hour ago, Copa said:

If you try to understand Tongan and Samoan views of culture and identity within both the islands and in Australia and New Zealand, you’ll find your view isn’t relevant at all.

We have a winner!

That specific demographic telling people how to feel is poking its head out again.

[Anita Bath]

8 hours ago, RayCee said:

I'm flabbergasted that anyone would want to pick on where players originated by birth. Surely, it is known that the standard and facilities in the Pacific Islands is never going to produce players of international standard. If only Island born players were eligible, those games would never had been played or of sufficient quality to being televised. By tapping into a huge diaspora of Islanders, RL has a pool of talented athletes that provide outstanding entertainment. Surely that should be celebrated, not mocked.

For pacific islands you could substitute British Isles……ouch!

[The Rocket]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

It will only become a problem if the flow of Tongans and Samoans with at least a grandparental connection stops

I expect that by the time that becomes a problem the pathways coming out of the Pacific Island nations will be developed enough to ensure a much larger pool of players to choose from. 

A situation aided by the relatively high birth rates and young demographics of most Pacific nations..

[gingerjon]

32 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

I expect that by the time that becomes a problem the pathways coming out of the Pacific Island nations will be developed enough to ensure a much larger pool of players to choose from. 

A situation aided by the relatively high birth rates and young demographics of most Pacific nations..

Yes - can't see it being a problem at all although we may have the sight of the sons and daughters of current players not qualifying (assuming they are born in NZ/Oz).

[UTK]

39 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

I expect that by the time that becomes a problem the pathways coming out of the Pacific Island nations will be developed enough to ensure a much larger pool of players to choose from. 

A situation aided by the relatively high birth rates and young demographics of most Pacific nations..

Absolutely, we've already done this with the Melanesian nations in the form of the Hunters and Silktails - it's much more feasible to do so with Fiji and PNG due to their populations but now that both those pathways have been established we should be turning our heads toward a suitable equivalent for Polynesian nations. 

The heritage players have presented an opportunity for this to happen, without the success of Tonga and Samoa's international sides RL would never have gained the recognition domestically to drive their populations toward RL. Taking advantage of that recognition by developing these pathways is the next step in the process of developing these nations.

Specifically on Tonga, we actually have seen an increase in the "domestic" Tongans coming into the NRL over the last 2 years - Eliesa Katoa, Viliami Vailea and Taniela Otukolo were all born and raised (to a point - I believe the first two were there til late high school, unsure on Otukolo) in Tonga. All three are at the Warriors and Katoa was in the wider squad for this match.

[The Rocket]

28 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

although we may have the sight of the sons and daughters of current players not qualifying

   If that is the extent of our problems I think we`ll be alright.

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

   If that is the extent of our problems I think we`ll be alright.

Yes, I'm agreeing.

The bigger problem remains the NRL's contempt for anything that isn't the NRL.

Hence why we won't get to have the conversation about this great weekend of matches again.

[Dallas Mead]

12 hours ago, StandOffHalf said:

Yeah, bigging up a bumper summer of sport that promised cricket, F1, horse racing, and rugby union - or RUGBY as they emblazoned the wording across the screen. No rugby league to be seen in the package of upcoming highlights.

Very shoddy and disrespectful how they cut to coverage and then cut away. I watched a bit of the Super Rugby on Sky this year to see how RTS was doing and Sky tended to stick with and defer to the NZ coverage, rather than chopping into it and mangling it.

I was a little sad this morning that they cut away from the PNG v Bati so promptly after the match's conclusion. I was looking forward to seeing Fiji's post-match hymn of thanks.

Minor enough grumble in the scheme of things, but they don't let themselves down like this when it comes to other sports.

Standard from Sky sadly.  Don’t forget they cut the latest deal by almost 40%, says it all.

[Scubby]

50 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Yes - can't see it being a problem at all although we may have the sight of the sons and daughters of current players not qualifying (assuming they are born in NZ/Oz).

I believe there is a rule in SOO that a son/daughter automatically qualifies to play for the state of her father/mother regardless. I know this isn't international but it has obviously been thought about.