'The last thing you want to do is half-arse it': Super Rugby stars issue warning about expansion into the Pacific Islands
The potential induction of a South Auckland-based Pacific Islands team into a revamped version of Super Rugby would be great for the game, but competition organisers need to make sure lessons have been learned from previous failed expansions.
That’s the verdict from Super Rugby Aotearoa stars Bryn Hall and Brad Weber, who both appeared on RugbyPass’ Aotearoa Rugby Pod to discuss the future of the newly-announced Kanaloa Hawaii franchise.
Co-owned by former All Blacks Jerome Kaino, Joe Rokocoko, John Afoa, Benson Stanley, Anthony Tuitavake and Ben Atiga, reports last week revealed that Major League Rugby had accepted a bid from the club to join the North American competition ahead of the 2021 season.
With the future of Super Rugby beyond this year still up in the air, though, Kanaloa’s chief executive Tracey Atiga hinted that a possible venture into the Southern Hemisphere club competition wasn’t out of the question.
“The sky is the limit now. We’ve done the impossible,” Atiga told New Zealand show Tagata Pasifika.
“We went through a COVID period of four months and put together an application that was strong and that was approved by the MLR.
“We’re in conversations with NZ Rugby at the moment. We’d love to have a spot in Super next year and we’re ready for it. We’ve proven that we’re ready.”
Atiga further expanded on her comments to RNZ, explaining that the club would look to field a seperate team in Super Rugby to the side that would take part in MLR, with the former team to be based in South Auckland.
“We would essentially set up our satellite programme which is here in south Auckland to accommodate a second team,” Atiga said.
“So we are not talking about one team that plays in the MLR and then they come and play in Super Rugby – we are talking about two pro teams that would have equally competitive athletes at that level and we would own and operate them in co-ordination with each other.”
News of a Pacific team possibly entering Super Rugby was lauded by both Hall and Weber, who agreed that it would be a positive step in acknowledging the contribution Pacific players have made to the sport.
“If you think about the Pacific Island communities and how much they’ve done for New Zealand Rugby, not just at the professional level, but at the All Blacks and the greats of the game were Pacific Islanders and Maori,” Crusaders halfback Hall said.
“It’d be great for them to have a platform and a forum to help them and to give them a chance to play more rugby.
“I can see it now with how much of a following they would have.”
Chiefs star Weber added: “It’s great, I think it’s awesome. Awesome for the Pacific Island too. It would be great to see them have a sort of semi-professional team.
“Games in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, that would be quite cool too, it would be a great dynamic for us.”
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The pair, however, both issued warnings about how Kanaloa’s inclusion into the Super Rugby set-up would need to be done cautiously and correctly in order to avoid mishaps that have damaged the league’s credibility in the past.
Regular expansions of Super Rugby since 2006 saw the competition grow from 12 teams to 18 within the space of a decade, creating an over-saturation of playing talent which contributed significantly to a depletion of fan interest across the Southern Hemisphere.
As such, the Western Force, Southern Kings and Cheetahs were subjected to messy expulsions from Super Rugby in 2017, and they have since been followed by Japan’s Sunwolves, who played their last matches in the league this year.
Despite SANAAR’s attempts to re-capture the imagination of fans by condensing the league back to 14 teams, much of the damage has already been done as Super Rugby has since become a shadow of its former self as the world’s premier club competition.
Hall said that’s why any future iteration of Super Rugby needs to be handled carefully if any new teams are to be thrown into the mix.
“One thing that we do need to be careful around is that we have expanded before, we have brought teams in like Japan and the Jaguares and we’ve brought in some other South African teams too,” the three-time Super Rugby champion said.
“You don’t want to dilute the competition, so if they do come on board, and they have the support base – and hopefully they do – then they can be competitive.
“The last thing you want to do is half-arse it and just get the brand and the name out there, but if they’re financially supported, have the players and are actually competitive, then it’s going to be great for all parties when a decision is made.”
Weber doubled down on Hall’s sentiments, but was confident that any Pacific Island side would be capable of holding their own in Super Rugby.
“You’d hate for them to come in and get pumped every week, but I’m pretty positive that they could be really competitive right from the outset should they put a decent team together, which I’m sure they could,” he said.
Comments on RugbyPass
Havili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
61 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to comments