'Definitely keen': Moana Pasifika eager to take home games to Pacific Islands
Moana Pasifika has outlined its desire to take Super Rugby Pacific matches to the Pacific Islands following last week’s spectacle between the Fijian Drua and Highlanders in Suva.
The Highlanders notched their second win of the season in front of a sold-out and boisterous ANZ National Stadium crowd of 15,000 in what was the Drua’s first-ever home Super Rugby Pacific match after having based themselves in Australia this year.
The occasion illustrated the passion Fijian fans have for their side, and a similarly rapturous crowd is expected when the Drua return to Fiji to host the Chiefs in Lautoka later this month.
Suva’s scenes of fanfare and excitement about having a Super Rugby Pacific team of their own caught the attention of Moana Pasifika, with assistant coach Filo Tiatia expressing his eagerness to host a game of their own in the Pacific Islands at some stage.
“I’m with you, 100 percent. How good was that Drua crowd? 15,000 screaming Fijians. We’ve got a couple Fijians in our team and they’re pretty loud, just a couple of them,” Tiatia joked earlier this week.
“It’s certainly something we’d love to do, have the honour and pleasure to play in Tonga or Samoa, or even in any Pacific nation and representing Moana Pasifika.
“We’re definitely keen to look at that and really connect with our people in those islands, so 100 percent.”
Despite being a representation of the Pacific Islands in Super Rugby Pacific, Moana Pasifika are based in New Zealand and play at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium.
It’s there where the New Zealand Rugby-backed side will be based until 2028, with the franchise confirming last September that Mt Smart Stadium will be its home base for its first seven seasons of existence.
That means the possibility of Moana Pasifika being permanently based out of the Pacific Islands, namely Samoa and/or Tonga, won’t come to fruition until 2029 at the earliest.
However, upon the announcement of Mt Smart Stadium as the team’s home ground, Moana Pasifika patron Sir Bryan Williams said the franchise was committed to taking matches to Samoa and Tonga once international borders reopened.
“As the competition evolves and subject to international borders being open, our intention is to play games in Samoa and Tonga and expand our presence across our Moana,” Williams said in a statement last September.
“To grow the game in the Pacific, we need to inspire our young players from an early age. They’ll see their heroes run out on the field in Moana Pasifika colours and believe that they can be just like them when they grow up.”
With resumption of international travel to and from New Zealand, the opportunity to take home matches to Samoa and Tonga has become available from next season onwards.
Before then, though, the new expansion franchise will return to Mt Smart Stadium for the first time in nearly six weeks when they host the Waratahs on Saturday.
The Waratahs head into that clash as favourites following their shock win over the Crusaders last week, but Moana Pasifika playmaker Christian Lealiifano is simply relishing the chance to play in front of his home fans for the first time since March.
“Really excited. It’s been bit of a journey and a long time away from home,” he said.
“Now that we’ve sort of got fans and everyone at games now, we’d love to see a big turnout of our people to watch their team and support two great teams ready to put on a good showcase on Saturday night.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments