'Took a punt': Tana Umaga on the rise of Moana Pasifika's star playmaker

Moana Pasifika have produced numerous breakout stars in 2025, not least of which is playmaker Patrick Pellegrini.

The Super Rugby Pacific rookie has been turning heads since his round three debut off the bench against the Highlanders, a game in which Moana found themselves down 16 points ay halftime before an inspired second half saw the team get within two points of a win.

The Tongan international was rewarded with a start the following week against the Hurricanes, a statement win with Pellegrini’s fingerprints all over it.

Moana Pasifika then flirted with a remarkable comeback against what was at the time a ladder-leading Chiefs team, falling just shy of a 36-point turnaround before creating history against the Crusaders in Christchurch.

The round seven win over an All Blacks-laden team of multi-time Super Rugby champions was in large part thanks to the game-management maestro in Moana Pasifika’s No. 10 jersey, Pellegrini.

Following the win, Moana head coach Tana Umaga was asked what he has made of the 26-year-old’s debut season.

“Obviously, he’s really taken to it. He’s done everything that was asked of him from the preseason to now,” Umaga told Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB.

“We’ve seen him play internationals and from a guy that started in Sydney, took a punt and signed with Division three in England and ended up playing Division two, and then wanting to come back and play having always dreamed about playing Super rugby, and from what we saw of him playing for Tonga fitted into what we were about.

“And then he just worked. And you talk about work, but he worked hard in the offseason and our preseason block.

“He had a few things to work on, and fortunately with the backs coaches we have in Stephen Jones and Seilala Mapusua, they just kept building his game and you can see when someone has the flair. I think that’s the Poly side that comes out in him. He loves that side of the game, and it was the other part in terms of managing a game.

“And he’s learned a lot from Jackson (Garden-Bachop) as well. And now you’re just seeing that and again, for someone who’s coming to Super Rugby for the first time, he’s he’s taken some learnings and he’s worked hard on his craft. Now, for him, it’s the consistency. For him; obviously everyone’s talking about him now, and it’s the same for a lot of our guys, they’re talking about them now.

“Now, from taking on negative and being able to block ,it out and it’s also us just learning from it. It’s the same with all the positivity. For us, we can take confidence from it, but you’re still just going to go back and do the job that we need to perform for our team.”