Pacific Islanders
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| Association |
Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance Fiji Rugby Union Samoa Rugby Football Union Tonga Rugby Football Union |
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| Trainer |
 Quddus Fielea (2008)
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| captain |
 Moses Rauluni (2008)
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First international Queensland Reds 29:48 Pacific Islanders (June 20, 2004)  |
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NSW Waratah's highest win 21:68 Pacific Islanders (June 25, 2004) |
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Biggest defeat Ireland 61:17 Pacific Islanders (November 26, 2006) |
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The Pacific Islanders are an international rugby union team made up of players from the national teams of Fiji , Samoas and Tongas .
The team is provided by the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance , which also organized the Pacific Tri-Nations until 2005 . In addition to the three oceanic nations, Niue and the Cook Islands are also entitled to assign players to the team even though they are not playing in the Pacific Tri-Nations. The team is not eligible to take part in world championships , but tours the world every two years. In 2004 they played against the teams of the southern hemisphere ( Australia , New Zealand and South Africa ), in 2006 against the Celtic nations ( Wales , Scotland and Ireland ), this time without players from Niue and the Cook Islands.
Rugby union is the most popular sport in Fiji , Samoa and Tonga , but since the sport has become increasingly professional, these nations are no longer able to keep up with the richer nations. The three nations play fewer international matches and lose matches against stronger nations with big differences, as the best players from these countries usually choose to play for the more competitive national teams from New Zealand and Australia.
history
Australia / New Zealand Tour (2004)
After the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) was founded in 2002, it was decided in 2004 to go on tour with a team. A coach has been appointed for this, who is supported by the national coaches for Fiji, Samoas and Tongas. This put together a team from the best players from the three countries. Even before the start of the tour, the team received more media attention than one of the three nations would ever have managed alone. In preparation for the three international matches, they defeated the Australian club teams Queensland Reds 48:29 and New South Wales Waratahs 68:21 in May 2004 . In the games against Australia (14:29), New Zealand (26:41) and South Africa (24:38) in June 2004, despite three defeats, they performed extremely well.
Celtic Nations Tour (2006)
Due to the qualification for the Rugby Union World Cup 2007 they toured again in November 2006. Planned international matches against Italy and New Zealand in June 2006 did not take place. In November only players toured who had already played internationally for their home country. The PIRA had decided this in July 2006, as Sione Lauaki and Sitiveni Sivivatu , the top scorer of the tour in 2004, began to play for the national team of New Zealand after the tour.
In November 2006 they faced Wales (20:38), Scotland (22:34) and Ireland (17:61), but lost in all three games as in 2004. The game against Ireland was the last at the traditional Lansdowne Road stadium before the renovation began.
England / France / Italy tour (2008)
In November 2008, the Pacific Islanders began a tour of the northern hemisphere and met the national teams of England (November 8), France (November 15) and Italy (November 22). Initially, Ilivasi Tabua was chosen as the coach of the selection. However, he resigned from this post on September 23 for personal reasons. Quddus Fielea , who was previously scheduled as an assistant coach and coaches the Tongan national team, took over the role.
The first game against England was lost at 13:39. The team also left the field as a loser after a 17:42 defeat against France. In the final game of the tour, the Islanders won a game against a national team for the first time by beating Italy 25:17.