New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew says there are no plans for the All Blacks to play a Test in the Pacific Islands before the next Rugby World Cup.
The All Blacks have never played a Test in the Islands, and most recently played tests against Fiji and Tonga in 2011, and against Samoa in 2008.
Tew says while a stopover match in the USA ahead of this year's tour to Europe, similar to a match last year in Tokyo, is set to be announced shortly the All Blacks won't be playing in the Islands anytime soon.
"Well certainly there's an enthusiasm for that to happen. One issue for us is fitting that in and the obvious question is 'how can you fit in Japan and the US?' The reality is that the Pacific Island countries will a) struggle to have their players released in that week that we're looking for a game, which is one of the issues the Americans have currently got. The Japanese didn't have it because all of their players are locally based and it's not on the way to Europe, so it complicates the travel programme. As hard as it may seem right now, we're not planning on playing before Rugby World Cup in any of the Island countries."
