Wallabies next in line for Pacific Test?
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Australia are likely to send a team to play a Pacific test in the future, Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver says.
However, a match could be a couple years away because World Rugby plans its schedule years in advance.
"It's definitely on the cards," Pulver told AAP in Sydney.
The All Blacks played an historic clash with Manu Samoa in Apia on Wednesday. The ARU chief executive joined NSW Waratahs Sam Lousi, who has Maori heritage and Tolu Latu who is of Tongan descent at a meeting with Pacific foreign ministers in Sydney on Friday.
He praised the islander talent that had wowed Australian sports fans over the years. In 2015, 36 per cent of Australian Super Rugby players heralded from the Pacific islands, he said.
Pulver maintained World Rugby was doing enough to help nations like Tonga, Fiji and Samoa retain their best players for national duty and stop them from joining the likes of Australia and New Zealand.
He pointed to the arrangements in place for Olympic teams which allow Pacific players to switch back to their home countries.
But Pulver acknowledged one challenge was that Pacific players could attract better pay in Australia and New Zealand.
Source: AAP & espnscrum
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