Samoa quits PIRA

The Samoa Rugby Union has quit the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA).

The Chief Executive of Samoa Rugby, Su'a Peter Schuster says they have already advised PIRA of their decision, as they believe the alliance including Fiji, Samoa and Tonga has not met its objectives.

He says the original concept was basically to provide an opportunity to play every two years. There were two aims, to get revenue to help in the running of the activities by the unions and secondly to provide players the opportunity to play against tier one sides.

But the International Rugby Board changed the schedule for the Pacific Islands team to play every four years.

Schuster says every four years will not generate the revenue and the individual nations in the combined side also need to promote their products and has also failed to attract more sponsorship.