Pre-season thumping likely the first of many for Super Rugby's expansion sides
If history is anything to go by, the upcoming season is going to be a trial by fire for new Super Rugby sides Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua.
The Pacific Island nations have long justified inclusion in the Southern Hemisphere’s premier rugby competition and while there’s certainly some jubilation that justice has finally prevailed, the fact that it took so long for the new teams’ licenses to be granted for the coming season means they’re already starting out on the backfoot.
Drua head coach Mick Byrne recently told the Sydney Morning Herald that eight Europe-based players were set to sign for the team but ultimately had to commit their futures elsewhere, lest Super Rugby Pacific hadn’t been given approval.
It’s understood that Moana Pasifika ran into similar hurdles.
While the Drua have been able to call on a smorgasbord of internationals representatives from both the 7-man and XV-man games, Moana Pasifika have primarily populated their squad with New Zealand provincial players who had missed the cut elsewhere, along with a crop of experienced heads such as Sekope Kepu and Christian Leali’ifano.
In Moana Pasifika’s first pre-season match played over the weekend they were well and truly put to the sword by the Chiefs, suffering a hefty 61-7 defeat. Head coach Aaron Mauger suggested after the match that the team would be much better for their hit-out, with many of the players not used to the pace of Super Rugby, but it’s hard to envisage the side will fare much better come Super Rugby Pacific, given the Chiefs were playing without their 10 All Blacks.
The Drua, meanwhile, have so far only played an internal pre-season fixture.
Even overlooking the relative experience of the two new Pacific Island sides, history shows that expansions teams struggle in Super Rugby.
The competition has undergone significant chopping and changing over the last decade-and-a-half, with six new sides joining the fray throughout that time period.
The Western Force and the Cheetahs were the first additional teams, making their inaugural appearances in the 2006 season. The Force have never made it past the round-robin stages of the competition while the Cheetahs achieved that feat just once, in 2013. Similarly, just once apiece have those sides finished the year with a positive points differential.
In 2006, the Cheetahs managed a 10th place finish out of 14 teams while the Force came in dead last.
The Melbourne Rebels were the next cab off the ranks, and they also finished bottom of the latter in their inaugural season in 2011. Never have they finished higher than 9th on the ladder nor finished a season with a positive points for/against record.
When the Lions finished bottom of the South African sides in 2012, they were replaced the following year by the Southern Kings, who propped up the latter in their first season of Super Rugby. While the Kings dropped out in 2014 with the Lions earning their spot back in the competition, they eventually returned to Super Rugby where they continued their disappointing results and were eventually forced to play in the Pro14.
Alongside the Kings, the Jaguares and the Sunwolves joined the competition in 2016.
While the Sunwolves were a mishmash of Japanese representatives and foreigners who’d missed out on selection for their local Super Rugby clubs, the Jaguares were effectively comprised of the entire Argentina national side.
The Sunwolves’ results were abysmal over their four-and-a-half years in the competition, finishing second-to-last just once and bottoming out the ladder in their other three outings.
The Jaguares, on the other hand, eventually fought their way into the Super Rugby grand final in their last full year in the tournament. However, even they, with all the incredible players at their disposal, struggled to find their feet early on, finishing in the bottom half of the ladder in their first two seasons.
Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua won’t have anywhere near the resources available to them as the Jaguares and like the other five Super Rugby expansion sides, will inevitably struggle in 2022 – probably more so, given the struggles with recruitment.
At least in the Drua’s case, they’ll start their season off with eight games against the comparatively weaker Australian sides and will quite probably manage to bank a few wins against the likes of the Waratahs and Rebels before having to take on the Kiwi teams.
The opposite is true for Moana Pasifika, of course, who will face the Blues, Chiefs and Crusaders in their opening three matches.
Despite the inevitable thrashings that will come the way of the expansion sides this year, however, the hope is that their inclusion will increase the standard of the competition in the future. The Pacific Islands’ addition to Super Rugby has been a long time coming and the season should be measured not necessarily on the results they achieve but on the fans they win over and the developments that take place off the field.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments