Pacific push for reps on World Rugby Council

PACIFIC – Pacific nations are increasingly confident of securing equal representation on the World Rugby Council.

Oceania is represented by Samoa’s Lefau Harry Schuster on the 28-strong council but Fiji, Samoa and Tonga do not have individual seats.

The eight foundation unions – England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand each have two votes, while Italy, Canada, Japan and Argentina all have one.

Prior to the Rugby World Cup, the Fiji Rugby Union took a dig at the “old boys club” running the global game and questioned why Fiji was not represented on the Council.

The President and Chair of the Tonga Rugby Union, Epi Taione says there are encouraging signs the council membership will be expanded after the World Cup.

“There’s a strong chance that everyone involved in the World Cup will have a seat each. It’s something that we should all have. Tonga, Fiji and Samoa: that’s what we’ve been pushing for for the last 20 years.

“They have to expand the formation and composition of how the World Cup and World Rugby is running. A lot of good people have been lobbying for years and years now and people like Namibia and Georgia, Romania and Uruguay deserve that as well. It’s been mentioned that come May next year it will all be effective from then on but we will wait and see if it runs smoothly through the council”.

The former Samoa lock Daniel Leo says more seats at the top table would be positive step but what’s really important is that the right people are appointed to the positions. - RNZI