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Pacific
Islanders - History
The
Pacific Islanders Rugby Team Timeline:
Rugby is the main sport in the Pacific and tests were first played
in 1924 when Fiji played Samoa
and Tonga.
Rugby is a natural game to Pacific Islanders, the grounds are hard,
but they can be also be very wet - and if there is no ball available,
then a coconut or anything really will do!
In 2002 the Pacific Islanders Rugby Alliance
(PIRA) was formed. It was made up of Fiji,
Samoa,Tonga and the two smaller unions from the Cook Islands and Niue.
In 2004, the first
Pacific Islanders Rugby team set off on tour.
Sponsored by Punjas.
Playing two warm up matches, the PI team played the
Wallabies one week, the
All Blacks the next and the Springboks
the week after.
In 2006, the second
Pacific Islanders team was sent to the northern hemisphere.
Sponsored by Digicel.
By this time, a new organisation called Pacific Rugby Limited,
(PRL) was set up to control the team, with the directors
being the chairmen of the unions of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Pacific Rugby Limited
This team had no warm up matches and played Wales,
followed by Scotland a
week later and Ireland
in the very last game at Lansdowne a week after that.
Press
reports and images from the 2006 tour.....here
In 2007,at the IRB Rugby World
cup, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga all played the eventual winners South Africa.
Fiji and Tonga came very close and new fans liked what they saw.
2008, is the
time for the third Pacific Islanders team to tour.
Sponsored by Sports Hydrant.
The team play tests against England,
France and Italy.
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