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Moana Pasifika stun Hurricanes in extra-time to secure first-ever win

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

After weeks of Covid uncertainty and season-opening drubbings, Moana Pasifika are finally on the board.

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Six days after they were trounced by the Chiefs at Mt Smart Stadium, undoing their good work from their season-opener against the Crusaders a fortnight beforehand, Moana Pasifika returned home to pinch their first-ever Super Rugby Pacific win.

Their landmark 19-12 golden point victory over the Hurricanes will live in the minds and hearts of their fanbase for a long time to come, with their defensive doggedness and vastly improved all-round performance the hallmarks of their shock win.

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Statistically, it was hardly a show of dominance, with the hosts pegged inside their own half for large parts of the encounter while the likes of Jordie Barrett, Peter Umaga-Jensen and rookie first-five Aidan Morgan ran rampant with ball in hand.

However, Moana Pasifika continually repelled the visitors time and time again, restricting them to just one first half try, scored by Barrett on the back of some slick backline play.

The Hurricanes almost certainly should have had more than that, though, as they only had to make 21 tackles with 77 percent of the ball in the first half, while their opponents were forced into making 100 more in the opening 40 minutes.

Yellow cards to captain Sekope Kepu and Levi Aumua didn’t help Moana Pasifika’s cause, nor did their set piece efficiency, which will still be far too shaky for head coach Aaron Mauger’s liking

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Nevertheless, the fact they were able to keep the score level at 7-all at half-time, courtesy of a Henry Time-Stowers try following some ruthless ball-carrying forward play, was a far better showing than last week.

This match was a far cry from the frail defence that enabled the Chiefs to run in nine tries, with staunch defence and dogged breakdown work enough to keep the Hurricanes at bay.

Add in a sprinkle of magic from fullback William Havili, whose second 50/22 in as many weeks to lay the foundations for his side’s sole first half try, and Moana Pasifika would have plenty of reason for optimism at the break.

Perhaps there was a touch of fortune about the half-time stalemate for Moana Pasifika given a potential try on debut for Morgan was rubbed out because of a forward pass by Umaga-Jensen.

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In saying that, the Hurricanes had plenty of opportunities to forge ahead, especially with a lopsided penalty count that read 12-3 after 40 minutes, but they failed to do so against the devoted red-and-blue Moana Pasifika defensive wall.

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The fortitude and determination of Moana Pasifika to keep things all square continued well into the second half, keeping things at level pegging almost until the hour mark, even in spite of their sever lack of ball and field position.

It was only until Umaga-Jensen broke through to allow rookie wing Josh Moorby to do what Morgan couldn’t and score on debut that the Hurricanes got the breakthrough they were after.

The relief of taking the lead against the competition’s cellar-dwellers to avoid a shock defeat was short-lived when Salesi Rayasi was sin binned for a lineout-related infringement right on his own goal line, but the Hurricanes still managed to survive.

The loss of a man would come back to bite them, though, as a spectacular offload by Tima Fainga’anuku put Aumua away for a 40-metre canter to dot down in the right-hand corner, which is where Rayasi would have been if he was still on the park.

With a renewed sense of urgency, the Hurricanes hit back almost immediately when some deft ball-playing by Morgan, combined with some outstanding line-running and offloading by lock Caleb Delany, put Alex Fidow in for another lead-taking try.

Holding a 19-12 lead heading into the match’s final 10 minutes, the chance for Moana Pasifika take the match to golden point and potentially secure a victory for the first time in their history was still very much on the cards.

Achieving such a result was clearly the motivation for the competition newcomers as the match drew to a close, as they carried with vigour, cleaned with aggression and played at tempo in a bid to stretch and break the Hurricanes defensively.

Those tactics reaped their desired rewards when, after a slew of penalties against the Hurricanes, Tongan international Solomone Funaki crashed over from close range to level the score for the third time in the match, and send the game to to golden point.

That is where the fairytale came to life.

A clutch piece of defensive work by Joe Apikotoa to steal a turnover following a sustained period of pressure turned into a brilliant counter-attacking opportunity when Danny Toala hoofed the ball downfield into open pasture.

Some outstanding chase work by the ex-Hurricane saw him win the race to the ball, and he toed it ahead from the halfway line all the way to the tryline before pouncing on the loose ball and dot down to rapturous cheers from the home fans.

A classic try to close a classic encounter which has proved that Moana Pasifika are here to play in their debut Super Rugby Pacific campaign.

Moana Pasifika 24 (Tries to Henry Time-Stowers, Levi Aumua, Solomone Funaki and Danny Toala; 2 convesions to Christian Lealiifano)

Hurricanes 19 (Tries to Jordie Barrett, Josh Moorby and Alex Fidow; conversion to Barrett, conversion to Ruben Love)

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Comments

3 Comments
E
Elisaia 1182 days ago

What a seki game!

A
Andrew 1182 days ago

Ruined my picks big time but man, even as a Chiefs fan I cant keep smiling.

R
RugbyPass 1178 days ago

Was a really odd game! Some really intense moments. Felt the late hit on Barrett going unpunished allowed the aggression levels to boil over a bit much, and the game became about avoiding injury for a few minutes there, which unfortunately Wes Goosen was unable to do.

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f
fl 56 minutes ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 1 hour ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
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