Thu 13 Aug 2015 | 12:46
Toe to Toe against the Rugby Giants - Pacific Warriors Documentary Preview

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Pacific Warriors is a fascinating new documentary that explores the history of the tiny Pacific Island nations of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. It documents their remarkable journies every four years at the Rugby World Cup, when against all odds they take on the rugby giants and at times, not only produce a scare, but even come out on top. 

As told by the pacific players themselves, and featuring the likes of Jonny Wilkinson, Sir Clive Woodward, Bakkies Botha, Matt Giteau, David Haye and Jason Robinson, their tale is one of the greatest underdog stories in sport.

For the Pacific Islands the game of rugby has become the modern expression of their traditional warrior spirit. Their lighting fast, brutally physical, high risk style of rugby is legendary, making them fan favourites wherever they play.

The aim of the film is to raise the profile of Pacific rugby prior to the World Cup, and also to get all Tier 1 fans to give them a cheer as their second favourite teams. A significant percentage of profits will go towards Pacific Islands rugby development, and the filmmakers have already managed to fund a two-week training camp for Tonga in Surrey, from early pre-sales.

Having watched the full 2-hour feature, we can tell you that it is just as enjoyable, insightful and hilarious as the great trailer below. It will be available from iTunes in September 2015.

8 Comments

  • stroudos
    8:53 AM 21/08/2015

    Fair enough DrG, but I am intrigued to find out what David The Hayemaker Haye is doing on here.....

  • kadova
    8:42 PM 20/08/2015

    Talking about the locals, I remember Matanavou explaining in interview in Toulouse (France) that what he was missing the most from his island was the people. Sure, this is a very different culture.

  • kadova
    8:41 PM 20/08/2015

    This looks like a really great doc ! Thanks for letting us know.

  • rugbydump
    4:38 PM 20/08/2015

    It will be available from iTunes in September 2015

  • kissmeimirish
    11:59 PM 14/08/2015

    Give these guys a superugby franchise and the right infrastructure and it would be amazing

  • karimabuseer
    9:57 PM 14/08/2015

    This looks awesome. Such tiny islands have had a massive impact on the rugby world. We owe them so much! (Is that the Old Rutlishians changing room halfway through?! Played there when I was younger!)

  • drg
    3:24 PM 14/08/2015

    Brilliant clip, definitely going to be a very interesting feature.

    Upthejumper pulled out the figures... 900,000 in Fiji... Doing some tweaking of those figures, could say 450,000 are men... 'children', 'adults', 'elderly' - thirds = 150,000 people spread over 110 islands.. it's a wonder they can ever field a team with those figures going against them...

    "less of the mostly patronising NH sound-bites" Martin Johnson pretty much started his rugby career in NZ and played for NZ U21's... I suspect had he stayed in the country he may have formed a rugby career there, that and a NZ wife, I'm pretty sure his understanding is fairly strong.
    Clive Woodward is an ex player and a coach, I'm pretty sure he has done his fair share of travel and communication with the islanders.
    Wilkinson is an extremely focussed and humble bloke, I doubt he'd speak for the sake of speaking and I honestly believe every description he had about the games against the islanders...

    Of course their understanding of the cultures won't be as advanced, but to call them patronising is a little odd no?

  • upthejumper
    1:50 AM 14/08/2015

    Looks great! They are releasing it on the Google Play Store too.

    The thing that's always struck me is the way that rugby has been embraced by these former warrior nations, not just the islands and New Zealand but Japan too. It's not just sport, it's deeply engrained in the culture and spirit of these nations. That's why they consistently punch above their weight.

    The population of Fiji is just 900,000 spread over 110 islands, 38% of whom are ethnic Indian. Samoa's is 195,000 with almost as many living in the US and 131k in NZ. Tonga's population is only 103,000 spread over 52 islands, with a further 100k+ diaspora spread out around the Pacific. Amazing standard of rugby considering the playing base, not to mention the AB/Aussie/NH players with islander heritage.

    I'm looking forward to seeing it. Hope the film features more Pacific/NZ voices and less of the mostly patronising NH sound-bites. I doubt they have as good an understanding of the of pacific island rugby as they have here in the South Pacific...