Samoa A coach Brian Lima says the Pacific Rugby Cup is still an important tool for developing locally-based players.
The new PRC comp gets underway in Australia on Friday, with the Samoans taking on the Brumby Runners in Canberra.
Brian Lima took charge of the A team late last year and says the matches in Australia and New Zealand are a good opportunity to expose the next wave of talent.
"The level down from the Manu Samoa so once they're exposed to that level, and perform, maybe the Manu Samoa will pick it up for their team. Once they make the Manu Samoa maybe a lot of clubs overseas pick it up"
and then leave it to the players to make a decision whether they go overseas in the future. But for this competition, for me, it's really good to develop and expose the local players from here.
