Athletes from New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna are making history as part of a tour that organisers hope will help eventually see a team from the region play in Queensland's Hostplus Cup.
Set to inspire players throughout the French-speaking Pacific, the Pacifique Treize (Pacific 13) under 17s side - which also features representatives from France, Norfolk Island and French-heritage players based in Australia - assembled in Townsville earlier this week for the start of the tour.
Coach Laurent Garnier was excited for players of different, but similar, backgrounds to share their cultural knowledge and further develop their understanding of the game against some high-quality opponents.
“The kids are very excited … to come and play in Australia, that’s a big thing and to come with a French team and play against Australian teams is also big,” said Garnier, a Frenchman who has lived Down Under since 2007 and coaches with Wynnum Manly Seagulls academy.
“These kids coming from Nouméa have actually been training for the past few years in the Pacific islands.
"I went over there about two years ago to spot a few of these kids and see if they would be interested to play the game in France or in Australia, (so) it will be good for a few of these kids to come to Australia.”
While the squad represents a new opportunity for rugby league in the region, the tour follows years of hard work, with the Pacifique Treize founders holding a long-term aim to follow the PNG Hunters into the Queensland Cup.
“We created the association Pacifique Treize just before COVID in 2019 … (we wanted) to try to get a French-speaking team in the Queensland Cup – but of course, COVID hit,” Garnier said.
“But, we maintained the fire and the will for the game of rugby league; Manuel Jalabert is working in Nouméa in New Caledonia with these kids – and sometimes girls too – who have been training for the last four years and of course, you cannot train every week and not play a game, otherwise we lose interest for the game.
“We had the chance to contact [Cowboys recruitment manager] Dane Campbell and he set up the tour for us, and now, Pacifique Treize will start with a youth team – under 16 and under 17 – and in the coming years, under 19.
“We will see how we go and the hope for this tour is to create interest around our name and the game in the French Pacific, attract more people who will help us to build the vision.”
The side will play junior representative teams from the Queensland Rugby League’s three North Queensland Cup clubs in Mackay Cutters, Townsville Blackhawks and Cairns-based Northern Pride.
“These teams are preparing for the Cyril Connell Cup (under 17) and Mal Meninga Cup (under 19) in coming weeks, normally they play each other, so we proposed to them to play another entity with some French talent because we have got some very good kids who are coming,” Garnier said.
“We are a mix of all these kids with a lot of experience and a real culture of rugby league in the south of France and we have the natural athletes from Nouméa and all these French Pacific islands.
“We want to see the French talent we have in this team perform against some of the best teams in North Queensland and the best kids.
“The goal of course is to be competitive on the field, but it is also to understand all these kids have come from different backgrounds; it’s good for kids to understand how a young Brisbane kid or a kid from New Caledonia is living, what he is going through in his life ... the good thing will be to exchange culture.”
The tour will begin with the match against Mackay on Saturday, February 3, at Tiger Park. The second game against Townsville will be on Tuesday, February 6, at Jack Manski Oval, with closing match against the Pride on Friday, February 9 at Callendar Park, Innisfail with the game kicking off at 6pm AEST.
The matches are sanctioned by the QRL who are also supporting the tour by providing referees and filming the games, with the tour seen as a potential precursor to Pacifique Treize entering Queensland's junior representative competitions in the future.
“It is the first tour of the Pacifique Treize, but everybody wishes that it is not going to be the last, we want to come back every year,” Garnier said.
“We are lucky enough to have the three teams from North Queensland agree to play against us and the QRL to welcome us, so that is awesome for us.”
