Rugby in the South Pacific received a massive boost on Friday when it was announced that a team from Fiji would join Australia's third tier National Rugby Championship from 2017. The costs of the team will be underwritten by World Rugby, whose chairman Bill Beaumont described the move as a "major milestone for the sustainable growth of Fijian rugby". Fiji won Olympic gold in sevens earlier this year and the fifteen-man side has twice reached the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. Australian Rugby Union (ARU) chief Bill Pulver also expressed his hope that the team would give talented Fijians the chance to play high quality rugby without having to relocate. Under World Rugby eligibility rules, players who spend three years in another country can establish residency and turn out for their new country if they have not already appeared for their home nation.

Source: Otago Daily Times October 14, 2016 07:18 UTC