It's half-time on a windswept rugby field in Australia's Snowy Mountains as a group of Pacific Islander players huddle and listen to their coach.
They've travelled three hours to play a semifinal against Jindabyne's local team, and they lead the unbeaten home side — a rare feat in the district competition.
It's a scenario that seemed unlikely for the Taralga Tigers two years ago, when the club — based in a village about 200 kilometres south-west of Sydney — struggled to field a team.
Taniela Halafihi kicks the ball during the Tigers' semifinal against Jindabyne. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)
An exodus of local players — retiring or moving town for new jobs — had the proud New South Wales country rugby union club on its knees.
Its fortunes reversed dramatically when Pacific Islanders, working in nearby Goulburn through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, decided to join.
"Without the Pacific Islander boys joining our club, I don't think we'd have a team at the moment," coach Evan Rees said.
"It's been really crucial to our club, to keep it continuing."
More than 30,000 Pacific Islanders are filling labour shortages through the PALM scheme, working to send money back home to their families and to build savings.
Many are bringing their home-grown love of rugby with them, and clubs in NSW and Queensland say they're breathing new life into the sport's grassroots.
In the Taralga Tigers' case, they may have saved the club.
Taralga Tigers coach Evan Rees talks to players at half-time, as the team leads Jindabyne 13-10. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)
Faced with a slim roster and a fast-approaching rugby season last year, Mr Rees was on Goulburn's main street when he met some Fijian aged care workers.
The conversation quickly turned to rugby and the Pacific Islanders joined the club.
"They said they also had a few mates … working at the Goulburn abattoirs and they were going to ask them to come along," Mr Rees said.
Two mini-vans pulled up at training one evening and a group of Pacific Islands players hopped out.
"We ended up having 20-odd boys turn up."
Taniela Halafihi passes the ball down the back line as the Tigers mount an attack. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)
The side has reached the finals for two years running since, and now all but one Taralga player is from the Pacific Islands.
For the Tigers, it means the club can stay alive until local junior players grow old enough to replenish its ranks, team manager Tarek Koroisamanunu said.
"The community's really got behind the boys. It's just a realisation that without them, there wouldn't be a rugby club," he said.
A home away from home
About half an hour before running onto JJ Connors Oval for their semifinal against the Jindabyne Bushpigs last weekend, the Tigers formed a circle and raised their voices in song.
The harmonies filled the dressing room, as players from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Papua New Guinea sang a Fijian language hymn.
Eferemo Tuinitoga, Jimmy Rees, Apai Tukutau and Uraia Kanabuco link arms and sing before the match. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)
Mr Rees said the club adopted the tradition after the Pacific Islanders joined.
"It was all just a matter of making them feel welcome, and embracing everyone's culture and bringing it all together," he said.
The club has also helped the players feel connected to their new home in regional NSW, PALM worker and Tigers back line coach Manasa Radriki said.
"It has made the boys feel like we belong somewhere, to the Taralga community."
The players describe the club as like a family.
"Once I played in the team, first game, I feel like I'm home," player Eferemo Tuinitoga said.
Other PALM workers also barrack for the team from the sidelines each week.
Taralga Tigers fans Niumai Qaranivalu (right) and Eta Koroitamana (left) travel long distances to support the team. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)
Niumai Qaranivalu, a Fijian aged care worker living in Wollongong, travelled five hours to watch the Tigers in Jindabyne.
"Even though it's long, it's worth this travel because we come as a family," she said.
Mr Koroisamanunu said the players have introduced their Pacific Island cultures to Taralga, a village of about 400 people.
Taralga, in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, was established in the 1800s. (Supplied: Upper Lachlan Shire Council)
"It's been something new for a lot of people that they wouldn't have otherwise seen," he said.
Opposing teams also join the Tigers as they link arms and sing a hymn after matches, regardless of who wins.
"For the other teams we've played against, to be able to come off the field at the end of the game … and to get to stand there and experience that culture has been something they've really enjoyed," Mr Koroisamanunu said.
'A great vibe'
It's a story echoed elsewhere in Australia, where Pacific Islanders are bringing their culture and free-flowing playing style to local sporting grounds.
At Ingham, in north Queensland, rugby union club president Peter Bishop said it had been a struggle at times to find men's players and volunteers.
The long distances to matches in the region can be a challenge.
"Rugby in Ingham is a six- to seven-hour exercise every weekend. It's not as easy as living in Townsville and rocking up at the game; you've got an hour and a half of travel either way," he said.
"It's a significant commitment."
Three Fijian workers have helped bolster Ingham's rugby union side this year.
Fijian worker Filipe Tabu has had a positive impact on and off the field since joining the Ingham Rugby Union Club. (Supplied: Ingham Rugby Union Club)
"They bring a great vibe. They're very social, outgoing, love a laugh," Mr Bishop said.
"Then on the footy field, they turn it on and play an exciting brand of rugby, as Fijian-style [rugby] is.
"They definitely add some X factor to our side."
And the Fijian players will help mentor younger players as the club's stalwarts retire.
Brent McDonald, a senior lecturer at Victoria University who researches migration and sport, said sports clubs thrive when they reflect their local communities and welcome migrants living there.
"This ensures the survival and possible sustainability of these clubs into the future," he said.
"It also does something for the general competition as well … [it] relies on these towns having teams. And when one team folds, it stresses the entire sport ecosystem."
Western Sydney University senior lecturer in sport development Hazel Maxwell said regional sports clubs can find it hard to attract and keep players, as people move to cities.
And in rugby union, the number of volunteers and people in non-playing roles has not recovered to pre-COVID levels, according to Australian Sports Commission data.
Dr Maxwell said PALM workers moving to regional areas have the knowledge of rugby needed by local competitions.
"They can be involved in more than just playing. They can also be involved in volunteering," she said.
In southern NSW, Pacific Island players are also refereeing junior rugby matches where parents might otherwise have had to fill the gaps.
ACT Rugby Union Referee Association secretary Ivan Gavazov said with more Pacific Islanders involved in the local sport, there's the potential to find more referees.
"We can see a huge potential of making rugby refereeing more sustainable in the region."
But as players, the Tigers' Pacific Islanders still want the win.
The Jindabyne Bushpigs were undefeated for two years going into their match against the Taralga Tigers. (ABC News: Doug Dingwall)
Back on the rugby field in Jindabyne, the Bushpigs come back with two unanswered tries in a hard-fought second half against the Tigers.
They win the match 20-13 and end Taralga's season.
Players from both sides form a circle, as the Pacific Islanders raise their voices for another hymn.
Mr Radriki said the loss won't end their run with the rugby club.
"We will continue to support the Tigers and the Taralga community, and try and go further next year."