'I can't specify what happened but there were talks that if something didn't change, the players were going to have to do something'
Virtually since William Webb Ellis first scooped up a ball and ran with it, the Pacific Islands have given so much to rugby and got so scandalously little in return. Fiji, Tonga and Samoa bestow upon us heroes and wizardry. Their people teach us lessons in humility and kinship that we easily discard in our affluent western world. But these joyous little archipelagos have long been pillaged by the sharks of the top tier, low-hanging fruit for cowboy agents, and besieged by crooked administrators pocketing what they can and leaving poverty and destruction in their wake.
Nasi Manu, the hulking Tonga back row, has had enough of this caper. He has decided to stick his head above the parapet and shed light on the risible governance and exploitation of his countrymen. Manu does this not for personal gain, but to share the Tongan struggle with the rugby community in the hope that those who follow are spared the hardship of his peers.
“When we go play for Tonga, we have different worries,” he told RugbyPass. “I don’t just worry about playing my best rugby. Sometimes it’s about, will we have enough kit, will we have enough money? Worries about hotels, food, travel – logistics. These are worries that, as a professional player, you just should not have.
“I don’t have all the answers, but what I would like is maybe in November, a game against a tier one nation (outside the World Cup, Tonga have had five Tests against tier one teams since 2013 – all away from home). No one ever seems to want to share their ticket sales, but maybe we could get a cut of that. We played the All Blacks in September and the Tongan Rugby Union got money, but we’re not seeing it, it’s not filtering down to the players.
“From what the boys talk about, World Rugby are impatient with Tonga and our board specifically because they have given them plenty of opportunities with funding. And the reason I’m happy to talk about this is because nothing will change if it’s not out there. I feel sorry for the Tongan players and coaches.”
At the World Cup in Japan, Tongan players were paid £300 per game, a mere £12,700 less than their pool counterparts England were reported to earn each fixture (which itself is roughly half what they get during the Six Nations). Frequently, the money did not arrive on time.
Manu will not betray team confidence, but hints strongly that had the leadership group not acted to cool fraying tempers, a mutiny was imminent over the pitiful and tardy match fees. It fuelled an adversarial narrative of players versus board. “I can’t specify what happened but there were talks that if something didn’t change, the players were going to have to do something about it,” Manu explained.
“We should never be having those conversations as players. I should be focusing on learning my roles that week, doing my homework on opposition. Of course, we want to play for our country and represent our families, but we need to look after those families and we shouldn’t have these burdens.
“It’s really sad. My club Benetton were still paying me, I had security, but we had players who were not professional – one guy is a scaffolder by trade and makes more money scaffolding back in New Zealand than he does playing international rugby. If he’s not getting paid, who is going to pay his rent?
“These young guys are so excited to be at a World Cup at such a young age and they are worrying about providing for their kids back at home. We obviously don’t do it for the pay. We don’t want heaps of money, but more than £300 a week at a World Cup, the pinnacle of the game, and for it to be paid on time.”
In the months leading up to the tournament, sickening stories emerged from France, allegations that Island players were being financially incentivised – bullied is probably a fairer term – by their clubs to skip the global showpiece. In some cases, it was claimed, Top 14 sides threatened wage cuts if players defied them.
Fiji Rugby would like to congratulate fellow Pacific Brother @Nasi_Manu on his spectacular return to test Rugby following a battle with testicular cancer.. Playing in Tonga's #RWC19 match v England.
Wananavu na vakaitavi, vanuinui Vinaka ena vo ni qito ?? pic.twitter.com/6yzAaTZocW
— Fiji Rugby Union (@fijirugby) September 23, 2019
Manu believes these revolting tales are true, despite being a clear breach of World Rugby laws. If they are, it’s a gross affront to the sport that a player should miss pulling on the colours of his country on the grandest stage of all because of the wickedness of his employer.
“At that World Cup, there are so many more players out there that could have played had we had better organisation for Tonga,” he said. “We definitely had a few pull out late because of their priority to get paid by their clubs. Some guys are taking pay cuts from their club, which I know is illegal, but some of those French clubs offer the boys a bit more if they stay.
“Clubs are now being smarter and getting it put in contracts that they have the option to do that if they decide. So we definitely don’t have the best players available playing. That’s all we want – a chance for Tonga to have our best XV. It’s already hard enough with the small population – we just want our best players available for the Tongan team.”
Thanks for capturing a special moment. A dream come true to play in a @rugbyworldcup . Onwards and upwards for us @officialTongaRU https://t.co/YmXX11zBbT
— Nasi Manu (@Nasi_Manu) September 22, 2019
For all of the tumult and anxiety of Japan, the World Cup was a deeply poignant pilgrimage for Manu, a New Zealand-born Super Rugby-winning co-captain with the Highlanders who was widely reckoned unlucky never to become an All Black. His fight against testicular cancer – a battle he won – is well-documented.
Tonga’s opening pool match against England was his first competitive game since being diagnosed in September of 2018. That day, he was supposed to be playing for Benetton in their first Guinness PRO14 fixture of the season against the Dragons. Instead, an Italian doctor, in very broken English, managed to explain that “you have what Lance Armstrong had”.
Those words hit Manu harder than any rival forward ever could. Five hours before kick-off, he was on an operating table having the testicle removed and would undergo four rounds of crippling chemotherapy to rid his body of the disease that had begun spreading to his lymph nodes. In the depths of a nausea-riddled stupor, his daily goal was to lumber from the bed to the sofa, so his infant daughter Nadia could be with her father.
“I felt like spewing up the whole time,” he volunteered. “When you’re in the hurt box, it’s like when you go for a run and you’re at that level when you just go numb, the mind is too busy hurting. With how sick I was feeling, I moved from the bed to the couch just to be around Nadia. If I’m going to be really sick, at least I can be in the same room so she can see that I’m okay. My priority was to get back to full health to be a father and a husband. I didn’t even think about rugby.”
The treatment, mercifully, was successful. Buoyed by the tremendous swell of support from across the game, Manu was allowed to train and play again. He dared not dream of fulfilling his boyhood ambition of gracing a World Cup, not even when Tonga coach Toutai Kefu told him he’d made the squad, not until the very moment his name was called on the Sapporo Dome touchline and he was brought off the bench to face the might of the English.
“I felt like I’d forgotten how to prepare. It was probably the worst game day I’ve ever had in however many years of playing and however many big games,” he laughed. “In the morning, I packed my bag about five times, forgot all the little things I usually do. During the warm-up when the crowds were coming in, and I could see England warming up, I was so excited that I literally used up all my energy in the warm-up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3PDP-_phhZ/
“Every 15 minutes the subs would do a warm-up and I would have done I don’t know how many down-ups, sprints, and by the time I actually came to going on, I was buggered. I had used up nearly all my energy with the emotional rollercoaster.”
With wife Alice and little Nadia in the stands, exaltation arrived and tears cascaded. Manu had come thundering out of the darkness and fear that had enveloped the family. To caress the leather of the rugby ball, feel the iron friction of a barbell in his palms, even to clatter into monstrous Englishmen in the cloying heat of Sapporo was glorious salvation.
“Is it strange to say that I’m glad I went through what I have? It’s made me so much stronger; it’s made me a better person,” he said. “Before, I took so much for granted. Now I’m in the present. I appreciate even just training, I’m happy to go into a gym session, feel the camaraderie, see the boys’ faces. I guess I’m just reminded of how lucky I am to do what I do for a living.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5xTWwxCXw6/
“I’m still a normal human being, I still have days where I really struggle, but I can kick myself out of those funks so much faster these days. The experience just kicked me into a gear where I appreciate so much more and I’m happier for it.”
When Italy’s Covid-19 lockdown is over, his contract with Benetton will be up, and the family will fly home to New Zealand and a murky future. These are brutal times for the free agent, particularly a back row the wrong side of 30 with limited recent minutes and a long gamut of injuries.
Manu longs to keep playing a couple more years, but if not, he can live with that. Sickness has taught him to cherish the here and now. He won’t torture himself with anxiety over what might or might not be coming down the tracks. He still wants to don the scarlet of Tonga too, of course. And wherever he goes, whatever awaits him, he will remain a powerful voice for fairness and equality.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
29 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments