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Pretty Crazy Scenario for the Possible Future of Test Rugby

Uhm... That already happened...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islanders_rugby_union_team
350px-Pacific_Islanders_Scotland_rugby.jpg

Didn't really go that well though did it
 
Before the 1980's Sri Lanka didn't even have a national cricket team, then in 1982, they first started playing internationally, and went on a tour of several countries, including NZ, where the came up against a team that was at their very best; GlennTurner, Richard Hadlee, Bruce Edgar, John Wright, Jeff & Martin Crowe, Jeremy Coney, Geoff Howarth, Lance Cairns, Ewen Chatfield, Warren Lees and Martin Snedden (yes, that Martin Snedden). Arguably, the best cricket team NZ has ever had.

The Sri Lankans were smashed in both the ODI series (3-0) and in the Test Series (2-0). In that same year, they also lost ODI's to England (2-1) Pakistan (3-0) and India (3-0) but at the end of the year, they beat the Aussies 2-0 at home.

Only fourteen years later, Sri Lanka won the 1996 Cricket World Cup and six years after that, the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. They have been consecutive runners up in the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and have been runners up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 and 2012. They have consistently been in the top few cricketing nations in the world for the last twenty years

The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds several world records, including world records for highest team totals in all three forms of the game, Test, ODI and Twenty20.

What is it that the Adidas ad says...."Impossible is nothing"

Very true, good point
 
Someone mentioned the need for a Pacific Island team, but I really think there is no need for it. I think the likes of Samoa will be serious contenders in 10 years. If the IRB can successfully stop player poaching, the Samoan team in particular could really do something soon. They are a perfect nation for rugby, right down to weather and genetics.
 
Someone mentioned the need for a Pacific Island team, but I really think there is no need for it. I think the likes of Samoa will be serious contenders in 10 years. If the IRB can successfully stop player poaching, the Samoan team in particular could really do something soon. They are a perfect nation for rugby, right down to weather and genetics.

You mean if the IRB stop player poaching so Samoa/Tonga can no longer fill over half their team with second/third generation Islanders who were actually born, raised and products of the New Zealand rugby system?

And then watch Samoa fall down from their current high without the likes of New Zealand rugby products Fotuali'i, Paul Williams, Daniel Leo, Ti'i Paulo etc and back down to the mere fleeting one off results that was previously the limits to how much they could achieve.

Samoa are only currently in the top 8 thanks to the considerable amount Kiwi players of Samoan descent who went through the best rugby system in the world who they managed to persuade to represent them.

And by the way, Pacific Islanders won't happen. The Islands didn't buy properly into the idea as they feared that it may lead to the individual nation becoming like provincial teams to the Pacific Island national team. They will be hellbent on the idea of sacrificing playing for their individual nations.
 
Someone mentioned the need for a Pacific Island team, but I really think there is no need for it. I think the likes of Samoa will be serious contenders in 10 years. If the IRB can successfully stop player poaching, the Samoan team in particular could really do something soon. They are a perfect nation for rugby, right down to weather and genetics.

Oh please, not this old chestnut again!

The real issue for teams like Samoa and Tonga, and to a lesser extent, Fiji, is not other countries poaching their players. If anything, they actually gain from including foreign born players in their national team (which no-one ever seems to call "poaching" for some strange reason).

Take a look at the composition of the Samoa team that competed at the 2011 World Cups and see how many New Zealand born players played for Samoa....

Census Johnston (Auckland, New Zealand)
Anthony Perenise (Wellington, New Zealand)
Olé Avei (Wellington, New Zealand)
Daniel Leo (Palmerston North, New Zealand)
Kane Thompson (Paraparaumu, New Zealand)
Kahn Fotuali'i (Auckland, New Zealand)
Jeremy Sua (Wellington, New Zealand)
Tusi Pisi (Auckland, New Zealand)
Sailosi Tagicakibau (Auckland, New Zealand)
James So'oialo (Wellington, New Zealand)
Ti'i Paulo (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Filipo Lavea Levi (Hamilton, New Zealand)
Junior Poluleuligaga (Auckland, New Zealand)
Tasesa Lavea (Taihape, New Zealand)
Paul Williams (Auckland, New Zealand)

That is half their squad, a whole whole starting XV!!!!
IIRC there were even more in 2007.

No. Their big issue is their inability to get their hands on their best players at any time outside the RWC, mainly because they either can't gain releases from their European Clubs, or their Clubs actually contract them out of being available for their country. This is the issue that needs to be dealt with if the Pacific Island teams are to ever reach their full potential.
 
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