Ika Mata Diaries - Day 3 Cook Islands

The FORU AGM was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands on Wednesday 2 May

Day three marked the main purpose for the visit to Cook Islands - the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions Annual General Meeting. Historically the AGM has been a tame affair on account of the main thrust of the work having been done at the workshops over the preceeding day/s - with the AGM being used to formally ratify the decisions made at the workshops prior to the AGM.

This year's AGM was no different. The Annual reports from the Executive and staff were presented and the FORU Strategic Plan (2012-15) was formally adopted by the Membership. A busy international competition schedule was approved and includes:

2013: IRB Pacific Rugby Cup; IRB Pacific Nations Cup; FORU Oceania Cup; Oceania Sevens (Men's and Women's); Pacific Mini Games (Men) and the Asia Pacific Women's Sevens Series.

2014: IRB Pacific Rugby Cup; IRB Pacific Nations Cup; Oceania Under 19s; Oceania Sevens (Men's and Women's) and the Asia Pacific Women's Sevens Series.

2015: IRB Pacific Rugby Cup; IRB Pacific Nations Cup; FORU Oceania Cup; Oceania Sevens (Men's and Women's), Pacific Games (Men and Women) and the Asia Pacific Women's Sevens Series.

There was approval to discuss an expansion of the Asia-Pacific Sevens Series concept with the Asian Rugby Football Unions (ARFU) - the IRB Regional Association in Asia. This is a concept that is generating great interest amongst the membership - especially for our Member Unions that are not core teams on the HSBC Sevens World Series, as it presents an opportunity for increased competition in the lead-up to the Rio2016 Olympic Games.

Nick Brown (NZL), Charles Tauziet (TAH), John Wichman (COK), Harry Schuster (SAM), Richard Sapias (PNG), Stephen Cottrell (NZL) and Andy Conway (AUS) - members of the past and present FORU Executive

The most important outcome of the AGM was the election of the FORU Executive for the next four years. FORU said goodbye to Stephen Cottrell (New Zealand) and John Wichman (Cook Islands), both of whom were standing down at this election. Both have been vocal and hard working Executive Members and will be missed - John in particular as he has been a 'founding' member of the FORU Executive since its inception.

The new FORU Executive elected at this AGM is:

President: Lefau Harry Schuster (Samoa)
Secretary: Nick Brown (New Zealand)
Treasurer: Andy Conway (Australia)
Executive Member: Richard Sapias (PNG)
Executive Member: Charles Tauziet: (Tahiti)



The Hon. John Carter, New Zealand High Commissioner, Chris McKinley, CIRU President; Ben Koteka, CIRU CEO and Jerome Kaino

Local Kids present some of the RWC Legacy Equipment with their interpretation of the Haka

After the AGM, I attended the handover of RWC2011 Legacy equipment to the Cook Islands Rugby Union. Details of this initiative can be found on the FORU Website here . To commemorate the hand over, the New Zealand Government and the Cook Islands Rugby Union arranged a parade of the Webb Ellis Cup down the main street followed by a civic reception. The turnout suprised everyone - hundreds, if not thousands of locals arrived to meet All Black star Jerome Kaino (whom, it must be said, is an absolute gentlemen and went well beyond the call of duty to sign autographs and pose for photos with hundreds of adoring fans) and catch a glimpse of the famous RWC Trophy.

It is functions like this where you get an appreciation for the importance of sport in small countries in particular. And in the Cook Islands, where rugby is the National Sport, the response by the general public to the handover of world-class rugby equipment and the chance to meet Jerome Kaino and see the Webb Ellis Cup simply had to be seen to be believed.

The shirt says it all

A great visit to a great rugby country concludes. Next stop, Auckland, for a series of meetings with representatives from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Japan, USA and Canada to discuss the possibilities around an expanded Pacific Nations Cup. I will update you on the outcomes of those meetings soon.