World Rugby must ‘step up’ support for lowly nations, says Perelini, who expects UAE to prove quality against Hong Kong
- UAE set for Asia Rugby Championship debut against Hong Kong on Saturday, with visitors trying to bridge huge gap in world ranking
- Former Samoa and Sale Sharks back-rower Apollo Perelini has overseen significant growth of rugby in the UAE over the past decade
Former Samoa star Apollo Perelini said World Rugby needed to “step up” its support of lower-tier nations, as his United Arab Emirates side prepared to take on Hong Kong on Saturday.
In charge of UAE rugby as a whole, Perelini has guided his side to the Asia Rugby Championship for the first time, and their encounter against the hosts is the opening game of this year’s tournament.
Perelini said reaching the ARC, which also features South Korea and Malaysia, was huge for the UAE, and something his organisation had been “striving towards for the past five years”.
The winners of next year’s tournament could qualify for an expanded 2027 Rugby World Cup, with the runners-up remaining on the qualification pathway.
Although recognising the World Cup participation would be a “great opportunity”, Perelini suggested the global governing body had a duty to help lowly nations prepare for exposure to elite opponents.
“You can’t just say, ‘you have a chance play in a World Cup’, and that’s it,” Perelini told the Post. “Where is the funding?