Kind of sort of Super 12 rugby related. Fiji's rugby union body is asking for their government's financial aide in getting their facilities up to scratch so that they can have a chance in bidding for an extra super 12 team. Well yeah sure I agree with that, but I think the problems go deeper.

Think back to the rugby world cup last year. How many people belly ached that there should be a two tiered comp because the top teams were just 'so' far ahead of the others? At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious - the top teams' countries pour enormous funds into the game. Many suggested quietly that England bought the 2003 world cup. Difficult to refute when they spent a figure so astronomical I can't even recall is now.. was it 30 million pounds? or 50? or.. ? Compare the figure to what any of the minnow countries spent... I'd bet that if you added them all up and multiplied them by 3 you still be several zeros off the funds the poms put out. But I digress....

Rugby is a truly international sport - I don't know that we should be penalising players because they happen to be from a poor country. And, that is what has been happening whether we care to admit it or not. What's the answer? I don't know, but surely there can be some means through which the wealthier and more developed rugby nations can assist the others. The game will be the winner and all rugby fans will be the beneficiaries. Funds on facilities and player development will mean more competitive anmd balanced test encounters, it will mean more frequent encounters, which will in turn mean more dollars to re-invest back into the game. And so it snowballs. Can the IRB initiate or facilitate such an idea? Again - I don't know enough about what they do to be able to offer any clues on that, but it sure would be great to see some serious challengers to the rugby nation heavyweights; a great game deserves great competition.