Just a few days away and....

Here's where I'm having trouble: Taniela Tuiaki states that he and fellow claimant Fuifui Moimoi, "didn't know what politically the World Cup rules were and didn't know its two years before you can switch to another country."

Okay, we'll give you one point for the following: None of us can know entirely what the legal jargon is on any contract of any nature, and that most guys (or gals) would prefer that they have a legal expert scan over the details before signing the dotted line. But really, these two have each been playing professional footy for seveal years now and have been aroung the sport and its influential circles long enough to know that if you play for one country, you're going to raise a few eyebrows when you turn around and say, "Uh, I think I'm switching my allegiances this time around."

Don't get me wrong. I would love to see all of our boys play for Fiji, Tonga and Samoa first, before defecting (ala Dom Feaunati who wore Samoa's blue and is now strking a pose in England's jersey and Lesley Vainikolo who passed up Tonga to play for the Brits) but don't play the "Prodigal Son" bit when your services are no longer required on greener pastures. These guys had to have known that if they don a jersey of any other singlet than the one issued by the island nations, you're really putting it all in for the "poachers".

Tonga's neighbors and fierce rivals Samoa are really marketing themselves as the spoilers in this years Cup but do they really have the goods to contend with the power of Australia, England and New Zealand? Nigel Vagana seems to think so.

He's quoted (New Zealand Herald) as saying, "People in New Zealand will know only too well what the Islander boys are capable of. We're sometimes pretty unpredictable and this side will be no different. At the end of the day, we are going to Australia to win..."

Talking smack only works when you can back it up and I fear that the boys in blue will suffer the same fate as their brothers in Union. I hope I'm wrong, but honestly, I can't see them causing any major upsets despite what the media is feeding them.

I'm hoping for the best results possible for Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. Otherwise this blog is going to get downright vulgar in a few weeks!