The Rugby Union World Cup, in its first four editions, demonstrated before an international audience the exuberant talent of teams from rugby's smallest states.
The island nations of the South Pacific provided, with their glimpsed passion, natural and uncluttered playing style, a counterpoint to the more practiced and sober styles of the sport's strongest teams.
The fifth Cup in Australia in October and November will again provide a showcase for the game's pure entertainers but it may highlight in the cases of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji a recent history of neglect and decline.
Samoa shocked the rugby world when it beat Wales, one of the game's traditional powers, to qualify for the quarterfinals of the 1991 World Cup.
Its attempt to repeat that achievement over the next two months -- in Group C against England, South Africa, Uruguay and Georgia -- will be greatly handicapped by the unavailability of many of its leading players.
"I don't like having to say it but we are not going to the World Cup with our strongest team," said Samoa coach John Boe.
"For that reason, and it shouldn't have to be this way, the World Cup could easily become a four or five horse race."
Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are all and equally affected by their dependence on players based overseas. The reluctance or refusal of New Zealand provinces and English, French or Japanese club teams to release those players has placed in jeopardy the competitive edge of the island nations.
The Samoans used shock tactics to awaken the world to their plight when they recently warned they might have to withdraw from international rugby if their concerns are not addressed.
As rugby's showcase tournament approaches they have warned again that their future is tenuous unless international regulations are changed or enforced more stringently to ensure the availability of their best players.
"We're watching our player pool shrivel before our eyes," said Samoan assistant coach Michael Jones, an ex-All Black.
Tonga and Fiji are in the same position. Hooker Trevor Leota, who would have been a key member of the Tongan World Cup squad, cannot attend the Cup because of his commitment to and dependence on his English club side.
Because the island nations cannot remunerate their players to the extent of rugby's larger nations, those players are forced to earn their incomes elsewhere. Their reluctance to jeopardize those incomes, when contracts may incorporate penalties for their absence, lies at the root of the Pacific dilemma.
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