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'The last thing you want to do is half-arse it': Super Rugby stars issue warning about expansion into the Pacific Islands

By Online Editors
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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“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.”

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.

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J
Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

34 Go to comments
A
Adrian 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

34 Go to comments
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