‘When he speaks, everyone listens’ Moana Pasifika coach on inspirational leader

Moana Pasifika head coach and former All Blacks midfielder Tana Umaga is feeling hopeful ahead of the new Super Rugby Pacific campaign starting next weekend.

Umaga and Moana Pasifika will be looking to improve on an 11th-placed finish in the 2024 season, winning four games and losing ten.

They will welcome a mountain of experience and class into their squad for 2025, with 94-Test All Black Ardie Savea joining his brother at the Auckland-based franchise.

Talking to Stephen Donald and Guy Heveldt on Sports Nation, Umaga says his squad are looking better than they did last year.

“We’re definitely further on from this time last year. I think our players that have come back to us have come back better this preseason, in a good space before we talked about where we wanted our players to be,” Umaga told Beaver and Guy.

Umaga believes that some of his players who are going into their second professional season, have put in a considerable amount of work in the off-season.

“For some, it was their first year of professional rugby, they saw what was required, and credit to those guys that did the work on their own. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing because they have to do it all by themselves.”

This year, Moana Pasifika have multiple experienced leaders at their disposal in 2025, with the likes of Ardie and Julian Savea, as well as first five Jackson Garden-Bachop.

“We’ve got a good group of leaders that have come through this year, and obviously Ardie being a part of it, just setting that standard around what it is to be an actual professional rugby player. 

“It’s not just what you turn up to training and do when you’re here in front of us, most of it is when you’re by yourself. So I’ve spoken a lot about those learning behaviours and habits that you have to develop as a professional sportsperson.”

Umaga is looking for his team to improve on their four wins from last year and the one win from 2023.

“I think there’s so many areas we can improve on from last year. Obviously, we want to just keep getting better. That’s the key thing. We improved a little bit last year. 

“So with this group, it is just kind of building on what we did last year. I think we also have to try and keep the game simple for ourselves. There are a lot of things to learn when we’re trying to educate a lot about what it takes to be a professional off the field, and then all of a sudden they get to learn what we need to do on the field. 

“There’s a lot of information being pushed around for our players, so just making sure we keep it simple for them and they can go out and enjoy what they do.

“They love playing rugby, and what we’re talking about is all that, all that preparation stuff beforehand.”

Having Ardie Savea as the captain for the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season will give Moana Pasifika a wealth of experience on the field, and off it. Something that the Moana Pasifika coach is already seeing in training.

“This is the first week we’ve had Ardie in with us and it’s been awesome. There’s a lot of aura when he first comes in, and everyone goes quiet.

“To Ardie’s credit, he’s really trying to show that I’m just one of the boys and I’m here, but I have standards. These are the standards, and he’s been bringing along with the rest of our leaders around us.”

Umaga talks about how Savea’s impact in training is second to none, bringing calmness and maturity during the heat of battle.

“The heat of training when they’re competing against each other is probably nothing when we get into the games. So making sure that keeps everyone calm. 

“The great thing around Ardie is, when he speaks, everyone listens and that’s what these guys need to they just need someone to make sure that they can guide them in the right direction.

“Us as coaches just assisting that and making sure that we’re helping these guys understand again their roles within the game structures.”

Moana Pasifika opens their 2025 Super Rugby Pacific campaign against the Western Force in Perth next Saturday night.