Pacific nations championships proposed

Rugby Union

Rugby Union

Eight countries from the Pacific Rim region want to stage an annual international tournament along the lines of the Five Nations' Championship. The proposed Pan Pacific Series, which it is hoped will start next April, would involve Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Japan and Hong Kong.

A number of South African players are considering switching to rugby league and joining Rupert Murdoch's breakaway Super League in Australia, according to the former Springbok centre, Pieter Muller. "There are still a few guys weighing things up," he said in a newspaper interview, "but I think there will be 10 by the end of the year."

TOUR MATCHES: Neath 30 Fiji 22; Wanderers 69 Thailand XV 34 (at Blackheath).