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The First Nations & Pasifika XV have challenged the Wallabies to a showdown after pushing the British & Irish Lions close to their first Australian tour defeat in an impressive, spirited display in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
Although the players – with a mix of Indigenous Australian, Cook Islander, Fijian, Māori, Samoan and Tongan backgrounds – came together in camp last week for the first time and were largely written off before the match, they dominated their opposition for long periods and had chances in the dying stages to level scores before falling 24-19.
Backrower Rob Leota, who scored a 70th-minute try for the First Nations & Pasifika side to set up a grandstand finish in front of 30,000 fans at Marvel Stadium, said not only must the new outfit live on, they must be given a chance against Australia’s national team.
“A lot of these boys are fringe Wallabies players and aspiring to try to get back in the squad,” he said. “You see tonight man, when you’re playing for your culture it brings something out of you,” Leota said.
The Wallabies only played a single warm-up match against Fiji and were dominated in the physical opening stages of the first Test against the Lions on Saturday.
First Nations & Pasifika flanker Charlie Gamble, the player of the match on Tuesday, echoed Leota’s sentiment and said he and his team-mates would have something to prove against the first-choice Australian XV.
“The Wallabies only had the Fiji game [before the Lions series], why can’t we be the warm-up to play the Lions?”, he said. “More games is only going to help them, right?”
Gamble – who has Tongan background on his mother’s side and grew up in New Zealand – was unlucky to miss out on the Wallabies squad for the Lions series.
“Us fringe players, who are trying to put our hand up as well [would be motivated], trying to show our potential,” he said.
The performance was impressive given staff – including coach Toutai Kefu and assistants Tana Umaga, Sekope Kepu and Glen Ella – had barely a week’s preparation with the players, and the Lions barred Pete Samu from playing because he hadn’t played Super Rugby this year.
“The good thing about our cultures – and this is the Indigenous and the Pasifika – we value family, [it’s] where tribe comes first,” Kefu said. “So we find connecting’s very easy for us, so we just build on that and reinforce that.”
The players worked with a cultural adviser during the week and took part an ava ceremony, a Samoan tradition to mark important milestones, for the presentation of jerseys.
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In 2004, a combined Pacific Islands side played an Australian team featuring current Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh and were defeated 29-14 in Adelaide.
That team beat the Waratahs 68-21 the week before and went on to narrowly lose to New Zealand and South Africa.
This year’s First Nations & Pasifika concept was only created due to the demise of the Melbourne Rebels, and the need for Rugby Australia to provide another opponent for the Lions under the agreement governing the tour.
Darug man and the side’s captain, Kurtley Beale, said the next fixture could be a warm-up match for the Wallabies, or a game against the Māori All Blacks who are already regular opponents against international opposition.
“Whatever it is, I think bigger picture and I think it’s definitely needed in our game,” he said.
But Leota – who has Samoan background and is moving to France to play for Bayonne next season – was more explicit, saying the Wallabies would be “the perfect match”.
“If it’s a Test match or a warm-up match [to a Test series], it’s just so important for this team to keep going, because tonight we showed what we can do.”
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