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Ben Ryan: Pacific Island Super team was on the table
Fairfax have reported that former Fijian sevens coach Ben Ryan had a group of investors approach him with interest in funding a Pacific Island Super Rugby team.
The Olympic gold medal-winning coach apparently met with Super Rugby and discussed a potential date for entering the competition.
Earlier this month it was revealed that the New Zealand Government and New Zealand Rugby partnered to fund an $80,000 feasibility study to assess whether the Pacific Islands were fit to host a Super Rugby side.
“I had financial backers, investors, that wanted to pay for a Super Rugby franchise on the island,” Ryan told Fairfax.
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“We met with Super Rugby at the time and they told me they just had to sort out the format because they were trying to decide if they would lose one Australian franchise, what was going on with the South African franchises, changes in the competition, and once all that got sorted then they would entertain the likelihood of bringing in a franchise in the 2022 or 2023 season.
“The Fiji Rugby Union then went back and basically told me to keep my nose out of it. I’m no longer in Fiji.
“I went back to the investors and gave them both of those pieces of information, and they said, right, this is too risky. They ended up buying a football club in England.”
Ryan said that although this time talks fell through, the signs are still encouraging.
“Now it looks like, because of various movements, maybe the weakness of Australian franchises, maybe the South African franchises moving toward the European competitions, that the Pacific Island franchise is now a real opportunity.
“It’s all about if they can now get it in place because if they do, the players will return and perhaps more importantly, they will start a pathway on the islands.
Current Fiji and Montpellier back Nemani Nadolo shares Ryan’s sentiments, writing in an exclusive column for RugbyPass that “it feels as if we might finally be moving in a positive direction.”
“You have to take baby steps on the Islands as we have heard this before, but with the South African teams looking to leave Super Rugby and align themselves with Europe, this seems to have put more emphasis on having a franchise in the Islands,” writes Nadolo.
The 30-year-old, like Ryan, noted the importance of the side from a developmental point of view.
“There is no point going to the trouble of putting a team together if it’s not going to then help develop players for those three nations.
“You would want the team to be the pathway to bring through the future stars of Fijian, Samoan and Tongan rugby and lean heavily on local players, but it would also be a desirable destination for Islanders currently playing in Europe, who have never had the opportunity of playing professionally in their home countries.”
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