So what evidence do you have of this? The conveyor belt to which you refer actually works the other way with many in the Pacific Island side which played in the autumn internationals having been born or at least having grown up in NZ (or in Rualini’s case Queensland). I get sick and tired of Brits raising this tired old nonsense in which they merely reveal their own ignorance. If you really wanted to do somehting useful get on the back of the RFU to give more money from such fixtures to the PI rugby bodies. Yes tidy up your own back yard before you try to tidy ours!

Secondly, I agree but what better way of helping out than goodwill gestures such as a mjor nation actually deigning to tour there, or giving a good portion of the gate money for a game at eg Twickers to the visiting Pacific Island team.

Mikey I think this sums it up to be honest. They’ve played second teams, also-rans and they only get a big fixture so the other team can build confidence for the World Cup. And even when they do get fixtures, those fixtures are generally away from home. I could be wrong but I think NZ have never played a test in Samoa. Why not? Can you imagine the enthusiasm which would greet them, the number of people it would inspire. That’s the way in which we need to be reaching out. I’m sure they don’t want freebies but just to be involved in the rugby world in their own right. They’ve earned that.

And mate there were 60,000 people at Twickenham. That would have filled most rugby stadiums in the world. It’s a pretty good return. I don’t think that illustrates that nobody is bothered about watching them.

The problem lies with the infrastructure in their home RFU. It doesn’t have the cash to invest in facilities, coaching etc and, as a result, the teams suffer. They can’t tour outside of their area, and as such either spank the likes of Japan, or suffer a hiding from the young All Blacks.

It’s hard to see how this is going to improve without a big cash injection.

There is no pot of money that gets set aside by the UN for rugby nations to share. Each nation generates it’s own revenue from the demands of it’s supporters through TV money and ticket sales. As much as we all love the idea of the islanders playing rugby – take a look at the viewing figures for last weeks game against the coming week’s match v Australia. Also if my eyes didn’t deceive me there was a huge number of seats unused at Twickers, something I’m sure will not be the case this week. We can’t love the idea that much!

Lets look at Fiji as an example, they play plenty of test matches every year – the players don’t got wrapped in cotton wool and put away until the next world cup. This year they’ve played teams such as Japan as well as Australia A and NZ Maoris. They also played Australia last year in preparation for the World Cup (and got beat by 50 points) – so they get their opportunities.

This tour the Pacific Islanders are on is a great idea as I’m sure it will raise the profile of the island nations and lead to bigger and better things. So stop complaining about how we are treating them and get out and watch them. If we filled Twickenham then I’m sure there would be more tours and more money available in future.