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'Very proud': Moana Pasifika captain's message to teammates after heavy Chiefs loss

By Alex McLeod
Photo: Brett Phibbs / www.photosport.nz

Moana Pasifika may have been far from perfect in their heavy pre-season loss to the Chiefs in Auckland on Friday, but captain Sekope Kepu remains “very proud” of his side’s effort in the fixture.

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The Super Rugby Pacific expansion side were dealt a hefty 61-7 defeat by the Chiefs in their first pre-season match of the year – which was only the franchise’s second-ever fixture – at Mt Smart Stadium.

The gulf in experience between the two sides was reflected by the scoreline, which began to blow out midway through the match when the visitors fielded an almost entirely new lineup.

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Of those players who entered the fray from the reserves bench, Josh Ioane, Pita Gus Sowakula, Chase Tiatia, Emoni Narawa and Jonah Lowe were among those to standout and help propel the Chiefs to a comprehensive victory.

Filled with players who were taking part in their first match at Super Rugby level, Moana Pasifika struggled to keep up with their opposites as set-piece errors and wavering consistency plagued them throughout the course of the match.

By full-time, it became clear that Moana Pasifika still have plenty of work to do to maintain a degree of competitiveness in their maiden Super Rugby Pacific campaign.

That much was widely expected of the new team, as is the case whenever an expansion franchise enters Super Rugby, and Kepu was quick to admit that there is plenty his side need to improve on while speaking to media in the wake of the result.

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However, the Wallabies centurion still heaped praise on his teammates, especially those who are inexperienced at this level of the game, for their commitment to the cause in Moana Pasifika’s debut match as a Super Rugby outfit.

“Obviously a lot of disappointment, but telling them that to hold their heads high because this the first time for us to run out and play at that level,” Kepu said.

“It’s a special day, and it’s something to be proud of. Obviously the result didn’t go our way, but, for a lot of those young guys, this was an opportunity for them to experience that level of Super Rugby, and some of those guys put their hands up tonight.

“Very proud of the boys. We’ll look at the little things that we did at the set-piece, a couple of maul tries, those kind of things. We’ll look back and go and have a look at the footage and look to fix those [things].

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“I’m not saying they’re easy fixes, but definitely areas that we can brush up on going into next week.”

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Moana Pasifika first-five Christian Lealiifano echoed the sentiments of his ex-Wallabies teammate, but highlighted the difficulty of bringing together players of various rugby backgrounds with the aim of succeeding against high-level opponents.

“When you get a hit out like that against a quality opposition, you see the reality of it, so it’s about going away day-to-day and really cleaning up where you need to be better,” Lealiifano said.

“We’ll try and fix that as we go. It’s quite difficult at the moment with different levels of learning, so we’ve all got to try and get on the same page and try and drive together.

“It’s going to be a little bit of a waiting game and a little bit of patience, but we’ve got some fantastic people in place. Our head coach and his support staff has been have been fantastic and we’re really enjoying working with them.

“I guess we’re in really good hands to help drive this team forward.”

Kepu added that the ability to harness the emotion and passion that has engulfed the Moana Pasifika squad through their strong cultural ties will be important for their chances of success and improvement.

“There is a lot of cultural emotion and everything that’s happened this week, but it’s learning to channel that. As we spoke about before the game, it’s an emotion keeping that within you, but also that ice-cool head,” he said.

“If we can marry the two together in a good mix, that we’re not getting too carried away with emotions that you not know your job when we roll in there, then that can sort of hinder and blind you.

“But, if we can do them both nicely, then I can tell you the team culture and morale is unbelievable, so now it’s just about getting those guys to hit the two together.”

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Jon 8 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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john 11 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.

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FEATURE Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby? Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?
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