Their very small popns and therefore playing bases with always limit any big improvement though. Only PNG and Fiji have over 1M people and the rugby codes will always dominate in both.
And Danny Hay's AWs didn't really struggle that much against OFC teams. The only time they played them was the WC qualifying tourney March 2022 in Qatar.
Scores 1-0, 4-0, 7-1, 1 - 0 and 5-0.
The first few games we were understrength as tourney started outside a FIFA window. Semi against Tahiti (1-0 win) was a real grind as they totally parked the bus, but we were never in any real danger of losing. The Island teams yes hindered by Covid and no real prep before the tourney.
You have to go back to Hudson's era with actual away games in the Islands plus the OFC Nations Cup in PNG, to find us close to really losing a game to an OFC team.
And Danny Hay's AWs didn't really struggle that much against OFC teams. The only time they played them was the WC qualifying tourney March 2022 in Qatar.
Scores 1-0, 4-0, 7-1, 1 - 0 and 5-0.
The first few games we were understrength as tourney started outside a FIFA window. Semi against Tahiti (1-0 win) was a real grind as they totally parked the bus, but we were never in any real danger of losing. The Island teams yes hindered by Covid and no real prep before the tourney.
You have to go back to Hudson's era with actual away games in the Islands plus the OFC Nations Cup in PNG, to find us close to really losing a game to an OFC team.