Rugby: Northland's Hammond can't play for Fiji

Hooker Jason Hammond, who captains his Northland team on Saturday in the absence of the injured Glenn Taylor, won't be able to play for Fiji in this year's Rugby World Cup.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has ruled him ineligible for Fiji because he appeared briefly for New Zealand A in 1998, the IRB said in its website.

Fiji were seeking the veteran Northland's hooker's services on the grounds that his maternal grandfather was born in Fiji.

Hammond, 29, played 92 games for Northland and will lead them against Samoa in Whangarei on Saturday.

The IRB ruled that former Brumbies loose forward Ipolito Fenukitau can continue playing for Tonga though he played sevens for Australia in the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Players appearing for one country at international, second team or sevens levels cannot play for another country, according to IRB regulations.

But Fenukitau has played for Tonga on a number of occasions, including the 1995 World Cup.

The former ACT Brumbies player is currently based with the Ricoh club in Japan, and is one of 50 players named in Tonga coach Jim Love's training squad for this year's World Cup.

The IRB's decision mirrors that of last November when it cleared All Blacks halfback Steve Devine to play for New Zealand though he had represented Australia at sevens.

The decision to clear Fenukitau came on the same day the IRB turned down Hammond's claims to play for Fiji.

Fiji said Hammond played for a few minutes for the NZ A in 1998, two years before the "one country for life' regulations were introduced by the IRB.

The IRB earlier this year blocked attempts by prop Paul Thomson to play for Scotland because the player sat on the bench for New Zealand A against the Australian Barbarians without taking the field.

Thomson unsuccessfully appealed that ruling, but the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) said it would not seek an appeal regarding Hammond due to the shortage of time.

Countries have to declare their final 30-man World Cup squad by September 10.

"We accept the ruling, but it is clearly very disappointing both for the player and his right to earn from professional rugby and also for Fiji and our Rugby World Cup campaign," FRU chief executive Pio Bosco Tikoisuva said of the Hammond decision.

"I feel sorry for Jason because he has not been given the chance to play test rugby or to play at a World Cup.

"I would imagine it won't be too far down the line before a smart lawyer works out a case of restraint of trade and applies that to these eligibility rules."

On the wider issue of eligibility, the Pacific Islands have proposed that the current "one country for life" regulations be changed.

They want a system where a three-year "stand-down" period could qualify a player to represent another country, provided that both the player's old country and his new one mutually accept the switch.

"Issues like [the Hammond case] are at the forefront of why Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are campaigning to have the IRB's eligibility rules changed," said Tikoisuva, a former Fiji captain who played in Britain for at least three seasons.

"There is rampant player poaching when players are young, but when they have dropped out of test contention there is no way they can contribute to other countries they might be eligible for.

"Given the limited talent pool of potential test players, I think it is in the best interests of world rugby that players who are not in contention with one union should have the opportunity to serve another if they already qualify."

Former All Blacks star and Samoan co-coach Michael Jones echoed Tikoisuva's sentiments earlier, saying there were several Samoan players used by countries such as New Zealand and discarded.

Those players, he said, were still good enough for play test rugby for Samoa.

- NZPA