'That's the word that sticks out': Aaron Mauger questions Moana Pasifika's mentality

After losing to the Chiefs 71-5 in the pre-season, Moana Pasifika seemingly had made drastic improvements when they finally played their first ever Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Crusaders.

Against the Aotearoa champions, Moana Pasifika had pushed the Crusaders in a competitive fixture, despite going down 33-12, that highlighted the potential of the new franchise.

Given the chance to rectify the pre-season result against the Chiefs at the same ground, Moana Pasifika ended up on the wrong end of another lopsided score by 59-12.

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 25

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 25

In his post-match assessment of the game, head coach Aaron Mauger questioned the mentality of his side and the lack of intensity as the Chiefs ran in nine tries to two.

“I think the big one was probably the mentality. That’s the word that sticks out. And intensity,” said Mauger.

“We just dropped off too easy and it was like a bit of a training run at the end of the Chiefs.

“You’ve gotta give credit to them, they put us under a lot of pressure early. Giving away so many penalties in that first half really gave them the opportunity to keep putting pressure on us and it just took a lot of energy out of us.

“We’ve gotta be better than that. I thought we trained harder and better than that, to be fair. It was a pretty disappointing performance in the end.”

The first half had been decent in Mauger’s view, but lamented his side’s attacking efficiency inside the opposition 22 where the Chiefs were able to repel them multiple times.

“Yeah it had been [a good first hour of rugby]. We got opportunities to get down there and we’ve gotta nail our set-piece, gotta nail those attacks close to the line. Chiefs did well, they held us out, but we’ve got to be better,” he said.

“If we want to be serious about competing in this competition, we’ve got to be much better in those areas.”

Mauger believes his team is capable of much better and attributes the lack of intensity in the disruption to this week’s preparations as the side left the Queenstown bubble and returned back to families for an emotional re-union.

Moana Pasifika were the last side to leave Queenstown after staying there to play the Crusaders in Dunedin after completing isolation following an outbreak within the squad.

“I don’t think there’s a lack of desire in this team. I think the mentality starts around your preparation. I thought we were really well set up. Our last intense rugby session was on rugby and then we’e flown back and there’s been some emotional reconnection with home and all those things which does take energy,” he said.

“I think that certainly played a factor for us. I know our guys will be really disappointed with that because we’re so much better and the feeling within the group is we’re so much better than what we put out there tonight.

“We know it’s in us – and we showed them it’s in us for periods in the game. But the lesson at this level is it’s gotta be on for 80 minutes.

“What it looks like out on the field is make a tackle, roll away, get back on your feet, make a tackle, get up, go through [and] put pressure on the ball. And it’s doing that
over and over again.

“So when we start to cop out at times and give away easy penalties, bam, we’re defending outside our 22 and these New Zealand teams are lethal when you give them
that many opportunities. So the scoreboard was a result of that pressure but we can be so much better.

“I don’t think there’s a lack of desire, I think probably just somewhere in our prep over the last 48 hours, we haven’t quite been where we needed to be to set that performance up.”