The regulations for playing for a country are that you must have: (a) been born there (b) have a parent or grandparent who was born there; or (c) have lived there for 36 consecutive months I guess that Samo qualified under (c) Also, once you have played for a countries senior first or second 15 or first Sevens team you are ineligible to play for another country (unless you were a minor at the time). This is a relatively recent time, as you used to be allowed to play for anyone you liked, and change as you wanted (eg Enrico Rodriguez who played for Argentina then changed to Australia) as it was deeme dthat you were representing the Union, not the country.
Reminder, LIVE coverage on FoxSportsWorld TONIGHT Australia vs. Pacific Islanders 3:30 AM Pacific, 6:30 AM Eastern
Australia 29 Pacific Islanders 14 (at Adelaide) France 39 USA 31 (at Hartford) Italy 32 Japan 19 (at Tokyo)
Well, the first ever test match for the Pacific Islanders resulted in so much controversy. They gave the Wallabies such a tough fight. http://www.rugby365.com/LATEST_NEWS/story_37052.shtml Mapasua's tackle on George Gregan was absolutely diabolical. http://www.rugby365.com/LATEST_NEWS/story_37061.shtml http://www.rugby365.com/LATEST_NEWS/story_37056.shtml I would be interested in seeing the Islanders change their style to a more constructive one. Otherwise, such tactics could lead to their existance being short-lived.
LIVE coverage on FoxSportsWorld TONIGHT New Zealand vs. Pacific Islanders 12:30 AM Pacific, 3:30 AM Eastern Set your TIVO's folks. This should be a good one. Hopefully the Pacific Islanders have learnt from their mistakes in Adelaide.
Apparently FoxSportsWorld is going to show South Africa vs. Pacific Islanders on tape delay tomorrow (Saturday) at 1 PM Pacific / 4 PM Eastern. It conflicts with the MLS match I'm attending, will have to tape it. The match itself will take place somewhere in Australia (not sure where).
Chandu, The game is to be played at Gosford NSW, a regional city which lies on the coast 80 kms north of Sydney, about half-way to Newcastle. The stadium (Express Advocate Stadium) is a good one and was used for Rugby League in the failed Manly/North Sydney joint venture team in the NRL. It's being touted as the home of the 4th AUS Super12 Rugby Union team or 14th NRL Rugby League team. Play starts at 19:35 AEST (ie Australian Eastern Standard Time) or 09:35 GMT, Saturday 17 July. There are a number of web sites (eg Planet Rugby) which may show various parts of the game or give live tracking & scores. Enjoy.
Watched the tape delay premier of this on FoxSportsWorld today. USA Eagles looked pretty strong leading 21-17 at half-time. Other than the first 20 minutes in the second half, they looked fairly composed and could have gone on to upset France. (But I don't know if France had brought a full strength team over here.)
http://planetrugby.com/News/story_37275.shtml It was almost a match of 2 exactly opposite halves. The South African defence was incredibly good in the 1st half, hounding the Pacific Islanders on every single possesion. But the Islanders showed what they're made of, although too little, too late. Bobo of the Islanders was literally robbed of a try late in the 2nd half, I think. The scoreline would have been a lot closer otherwise.