ASRU’s Pacific cup bid
Volume 11, No. 50, August 24 2006
By Barry Rollings

PREPARATIONS have stepped up for the Australian Services Rugby Union (ASRU) representative team in its quest for the inaugural the Pacific Nations Military Rugby Cup in Canberra.

The cup will be held at Vikings Rugby Park, Erindale, from September 12-16. ASRU will be joined by teams from the Royal New Zealand Defence Force Rugby, French Armed Forces New Caledonia, Tongan Defence Services, Republic of Fiji Military Forces Rugby and Papua New Guinea Defence Force in what promises to provide a highly competitive standard of international rugby.

Pool matches will be held from September 12-14 with the finals on September 16.

The ASRU team will assemble in Brisbane on September 4 for a six-day intensive training and preparation camp.

The team will play Qld Country Red Heelers at Ballymore on September 7 before moving to Canberra on September 10. It will train on September 11 at Duntroon before its first match against the French New Caledonian Armed Forces team at Erindale at 1pm on September 12.

Pool A will consist of ASRU, Tonga and New Caledonia. In Pool B, New Zealand will do battle with Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Given that rugby is arguably the “language of the Pacific”, the competition provides an excellent opportunity for the touring teams to get to better understand each other.

ASRU assistant coach and coaching and development director Wg-Cmdr Graham King said all participants in the cup would provide quality opposition and challenge the ASRU.

“My predictions for the pool section of the tournament are: in Pool A – ASRU 1, Tonga 2, and New Caledonia 3. In Pool B – RFMF 1, RNZDF 2, PNGDF 3,” he said.

“In the Pacific Cup I expect ASRU to defeat RFMF in a thriller. The Pacific Shield should go to RNZDF over Tonga in another thriller and in the Pacific Bowl New Caledonia should defeat PNGDF in the closest encounter. Naturally, the other teams have different ideas about the final outcome.”

Wg-Cmdr King said ASRU would field a highly-disciplined team, with strongly structured set-pieces. “The nucleus of the team has been created over the past two years, but in 2006 some new, young and exciting players are being blended into the team,” he said.