Little nations want to drink from Cup too

PARIS: Georgia and Samoa grabbed consolation World Cup wins on Wednesday as rugby's underclasses demanded a bigger share of the game's riches.

Georgia beat Namibia 30-0 in rain-swept Lens while Samoa, twice quarterfinalists, rounded off its disappointing French campaign with a 25-21 victory against the United States in St Etienne.

It was Georgia's first World Cup win but its is already fretting over the future if the vast amounts of cash the tournament attracts fail to bankroll the development of the smaller nations.

"In Georgia we do as much as we can to move rugby forward. With financial assistance we could do far more than what we do now," said coach Malkhaz Cheishvili.

"If I have any hope for the future of Georgian rugby, we hope that young Georgian players can play in more advanced rugby countries."

Namibia, who is still searching for a first World Cup win, is also pleading for help from the International Rugby Board (IRB) after it slumped to a fourth successive defeat here.

"We have had talks with the IRB. If Namibia could get more money for development and help we can go further," insisted coach Hakkies Husselman.

"We have the players, we just need assistance."

Namibia endured a nightmare World Cup losing 32-17 to Ireland, 87-10 to France and 63-3 to Argentina.

Georgia, who had only lost 14-10 to Six Nations Triple Crown winners Ireland, ran in three tries through Akvsenti Giorgadze, Irakli Machkhaneli and Davit Kacharava.

It goes on to tackle France in its final group game in Marseille on Sunday.

Husselman also believes that the plan to reduce the 2011 World Cup from 20 to 16 teams could deliver another bodyblow to sides like his.

"If we look at this World Cup with 20 teams, there were about six that didn't perform that well. Tier Three countries are struggling. If you play big Tier One nations like New Zealand, Australia and South Africa you get hammered," he said.

"But if you can assist them with money and development they will improve. We just hope for the best for Namibia. With the help of the IRB we can stay here."

Samoa coach Michael Jones, who was part of the All Blacks team which won the inaugural World Cup in 1987, also wants to see drastic changes with Fiji, Tonga and Samoa given a professional boost.

"The gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' still exists," said Jones.

"The biggest change is to have Samoan teams in a fully professional league. Whether it's in the Super 14 or if it's in Europe, we don't care.

"We just need a professional league so we can contract our best 30-35 players as they do in the Super 14, being able to coach them full time and then be able to play high-intensity rugby week in week out for three months."

Before Wednesday, Samoa had already seen its hopes of reaching the knock-out stage thwarted by losses to South Africa (59-7), Tonga (19-15) and England (44-22), but it largely dominated the USA team.

The Pacific Islanders scored three first-half tries through Lome Fa'atau, Alesana Tuilagi, Kane Thompson, with Loki Crichton hitting 10 points with the boot.

The United States, who had already lost to England (28-10) and Tonga (25-15) and faces South Africa on Sunday in Montpellier, responded with a second-half brace from Takudzwa Ngwenya and Louis Stanfill.

AFP

(China Daily 09/28/2007 page20)