The South Sea Barbarians of 1987

Contrary to popular belief, the Pacific Island selection of 2004 is not the first of its sort. There was one in 1987 which went on a tour to South Africa, the brainchild of Danie Craven, the president of the South African Rugby Board, who was looking for matches for his boycotted Springboks to play.

Eventually a team of 29 players, calling themselves the South Sea Barbarians, came to South Africa on a tour of 13 matches.

The man that Craven and his Board dealt with was Arthur Jennings, a Fijian who had toured as a lock in the great 1967 All Black team which was coached by Fred Allen. He returned to Fiji where he served as an executive of the Fijian Rugby Union, a member of the Fijian parliament, the chairman of YMCA, the chairman of the Fijian Barbarians and the chairman of the South Pacific Barbarians. He seemed to have impeccable credentials!

The team was made up of 15 Fijians, nine Samoans (at a time when the rugby side was called Western Samoa), four Tongans and a Canadian. The stars were Kaiyava Salusalu, Koko Fa'amausili, Severo Koroduadua (who had been one of the stars of the World Cup), Guy Cama, Paula Nawalu, goose-stepping Andy Anatelea, Afa Leu'u and Mush Nadola.

Salusalu travelled by dugout canoe and horseback to get to the assembly place. He was an astonishing centre - powerful, high-stepping.

The team was run by Jennings and his son Kirk, with Milton Floyd as the masseur.

On the rugby front it was an excellent tour by a friendly team of skilled players. They played 13 matches, winning 10, drawing one and losing two. They played mostly against 'feeder' teams. Craven had introduced the feeder system at several levels starting at schools. They would be racially mixed representative teams with at least seven black players.

They also played against the Leopards and the Proteas, the national teams of the SA Rugby Association and the SA Rugby Football Federation.

They were to have played two Tests but after the storm of protest which broke out after the team had arrived in South Africa, Craven abandoned the idea of Tests and they played against the South African Barbarians instead.

They scored 454 points, including 70 tries, and conceded 206 points, including 27 tries. The top points-scorer was Severo Koroduadua with 144 points. The main try-scorers were Koko Fa'amausili and Guy Cama with nine tries each.

The captain of the team was Koli Rakoroi of Fiji, the vice-captain Salesi Taufusi of Western Samoa. Rakoroi had captained Fiji at the 1997 Rugby World Cup where they had got as far as the quarter-finals. Western Samoa were not at the RWC that year as it was by invitation only.

1997 South Sea Barabarians squad:

Fiji: *Koli Rakoroi, Ace Hughes, *Mush Nadolo, Fi Finau, *Joe Qoro, Soni Vaktalai, Iferemi Tawake, Esala Teleni, *Paula Nawalu, Raka Rakai, Rarasea Sailosi, Lili Lilidamu, *Guy Cama, *Severo Koroduadua, *Salu Salusalu.
Western Samoa: Afa Leu'u, Sai Nautuki, Bela Rara, Andy Anatelea, Salesi Taufusi, Epi Nautuki, Bruce Naivogo, Pio Batinui, Koko Fa'amausili.
Tonga: *Samiu Mohi, *Hakatoa Tupou, *Vili Kakato, *Tali Ete'aki.
Canada: *Ro Hindson (British Colombia).
*  At 1987 Rugby World Cup

South Africa tour results:

vs South Eastern Transvaal, Natal, Northern Natal Feeder in Witbank - won 31-6
vs SARA in Orkney - won 46-11
vs Transvaal, Northern Orange Free State Feeder in Welkom - won 39-13
vs Western Transvaal, Stellaland, Bophutatswana Feeder - won 56-13
vs Eastern Province, Border, North Eastern Cape Feeder - won 60-0
vs Boland South Western Districts Feeder in George - won 40-0
vs SA Federation in Stellenbosch - drew 25-25
vs Western Province North Western Cape, South West Africa Feeder - won 28-7
vs SA Feeder in Johannesburg - won 30-21
vs South African Defence Force Feeder in Pretoria - won 18-10
vs SA Barbarians in Johannesburg - lost 56-30
vs SA Feeder in Durban - won 19-6
vs SA Barbarians in Durban - lost 38-32

There were two major negatives to the tour - the political controversy and controversies about money - neither of which would exist today.

Several important people knew about the tour before it happened, including Sir Penaiai Ganilau, the governor-general of Fiji, the head of the armed forces Lt Col Sitiveni Rabuka (who later organised a military coup), Russ Thomas, the chairman of the NZRFU, John Kendall-Carpenter, who had organised the World Cup earlier in the year, George Simpkin, the Fiji coach, Paul Wallwork, the secretary of the Western Samoan Rugby Union, Ronnie Dawson of Ireland and many others.

Jennings claimed that he had obtained permission from the three Pacific countries involved, but when there was trouble after the tour he stated that he had not got permission and was suspended by the IRB.

The money controversy was an internal matter for the tourists. They felt that Jennings was keeping all the money for himself. Craven had hoped that each player would have enough money to build himself a house, a frame-and-leaf structure, on his return.

Jennings stayed behind after the tour for an operation to a knee and then hopped off in Hawaii.