"If there was an easy fix [in western Sydney], it would have happened by now, but there isn't. The way you develop any good rugby organisation is with local communities and it's done organically. That's what we're trying to do, give longevity and sucess to rugby in western Sydney." First cab off the rank is getting a new office or "hub" up and running early in the new year, a coach development officer on the pay roll and a combined club and schools competition for the under-15s to under-18s age brackets. Also starting next year and not limited to the west will be an under-18s Shute Shield competition, which NSW and the SRU are hoping will give the premier rugby clubs access to more players. NSW Rugby boss Andrew Hore wants less talk and more action on western Sydney. Credit:Louie Douvis "We want accessibility for young people who are in public schools that don't play rugby or have left school to be able to play in a meaningful competition and be part of the pathway through the Shute Shield," Hore said.

"What we want to do now is support Shute Shield clubs and help them get into those schools and attract those players that maybe we would have lost in the past, particularly if you look at western Sydney." The document was a year in the making and started with a review of no less than three earlier strategic plans that were collecting dust in the NSW Rugby offices when Hore arrived from Ospreys in Wales two years ago. Hore is calling his an "action plan" to emphasise that his administration is ready to "rip into things" and is not beholden to the "grumbling" of vested interests. "I've been here for two years, this issue has been going for over 30 years in and around what is the plan [for western Sydney]. I wasn't in any hurry to bow down to people grumbling who were probably part of the problem in the past," he said. "What we are going to do - and we've shown that we will rip into things and get on with stuff - is we want to start some new competitions out there in the clubs and schools and we have some funding available to do that."

A key part of the plan is also harnessing the deep support for rugby among Pacific Islander communities in the west. The Pasifika Cup, contested by NSW Samoa, NSW Tonga, NSW Fiji and a Barbarians side has grown into one of the highlights of the National Rugby Championship schedule over the past two years. Each year hundreds turn up to trial for each team. NSW Fiji and NSW Tonga pray together after their Pasifika Cup match at Woollahra Oval last month. Credit:Jeremy Brennan "We're going to look at supporting the Pacific Islands and multicultural rugby tournaments out there and bring them into more structured competitions that people can buy into, and also support their volunteers," Hore said. "Remembering that western Sydney is 9000 square kilometres and there'll be two million people flooding in there in the next 10 years, we're going to have to grow that.