Ocean's Apart - Dan Leo

[Neils]

Saxons don't exist anymore - do they?

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Saxons don't exist anymore - do they?

Good point, I didn't check.

Perhaps they could be resurrected to do summer tours? I appreciate its all adding to players being away and getting more game time than might be healthy so would need some managing.

[Marlow Nick]

Currently all of the 6 Nations sides play one home game against a Tier 2 side and will periodically tour a Tier 2 side (usually Japan or USA/Canada). There doesn't appear to be any onus on the Rugby Championship sides to play any Tier 2 sides at all.

Trouble is that the games are not distributed evenly and if they only play home not away then there's just cost not income for the tier 2. Give the tier 1 a choice - either play away or share the home gate

[COYW15]

Saxons don't exist anymore - do they?

A shame. Really enjoyed watching the tour to SA in 2016. Tommy Taylor, JCW, Sam Jones, Dobby, Fiver & Wade were all in the squad. Although Dan picked up a pretty bad injury I seem to remember, which we could do without happening again.

[InBetweenWasp]

Finally got round to watching this last night.  I hadn't realised the impact on Dan Leo personally of having spoken out where the Samoan Prime Minister (and Head of Samoan Rugby) had pubically said (on TV) something along the lines of he felt Dan was trying to swim in his Sea and feared he would drown!

It was interesting to see that narrative change during the documentary from it being said that the Island Unions had been siphoning money out of the union and into the coffers of the various Execs/Presidents/Prime Minister's to accounts largely being cleaned/audited now and the Unions needing government funding to prop the Unions up.

It all seemed to come back to World Rugby and the Tier 1 nations making it incredibly difficult for them to succeed.  I'd be supportive of:

-- World Rugby or the Tier 1 nations either agree a split of takings for when the Island nations tour or they agree that a Tier 1 nation will tour there once a year to help with income/gate receipts to the Island unions.  With 10x Tier 1 Nations, it shouldn't be a major hardship if everyone did their part on a Summer Tour to the Islands.

-- Allow players the opportunity to change from a Tier 1 to a Tier 2 nation based on heritage.  The change can only be made once by any given player.  I'd love to see Tonga with the likes of the Charles Piutau the Vunipola's and Felatau playing for them.

I think both would make a significant difference to the situation for now.  You could also easily have a tournament that comprises of Japan, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and potentially even the USA played in a similar format to the 6N and not home and away games each year like the Rugby Championship.

[MarleyWasp]

There is already a loophole for players to switch countries. If a player, take Charles Piutau for example, is captured by one country, but has a passport for another country, they can apply to represent the country they have a passport for provided their last international appearance was more than 3 years ago. They will then need to play in an Olympics qualifying tournament, but can then represent their new country in any form of the game.

Cooper Vuna has already used this route to switch from Australia to Tonga.

[DGP Wasp]

You could also easily have a tournament that comprises of Japan, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and potentially even the USA played in a similar format to the 6N and not home and away games each year like the Rugby Championship.

US could play home games in Honolulu to give it a true Polynesian feel!  Can't imagine there'd be too many complaints from the players!

[Neils]

You could also easily have a tournament that comprises of Japan, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and potentially even the USA played in a similar format to the 6N and not home and away games each year like the Rugby Championship.

US could play home games in Honolulu to give it a true Polynesian feel!  Can't imagine there'd be too many complaints from the players!
[/quote

If I am right the US League was going to have a Hawaian team this year but matters changed somewhat.