Less than four years after it was first granted an unconditional license to join Super Rugby by NZR, the Moana Pasifika franchise is fast becoming a crucible for the testing of World Rugby’s national eligibility criteria. Originally created to provide a base of operations for Pasifika talent, it is located in North Harbour in New Zealand. Therein lies the conundrum, in a nutshell.
An underlying contradiction of purposes first surfaced with the transfer of Levi Aumua to the Crusaders after the big centre had posted an outstanding Super Rugby season in 2022. Aumua was eligible to represent Samoa and Fiji for the Pacific Nations Cup in July that year but ended up playing for neither. He was selected to an All Blacks XV for two games against Ireland A and the Barbarians in November instead.
Then-Samoa head coach Seilala Mapusua gave voice to the problem:
“It’s frustrating, especially as he was selected and played for Moana Pasifika. The establishment of this team was to benefit Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
“We looked at Moana Pasifika as our team. It is frustrating seeing guys like Levi being picked up by the All Blacks. Obviously, it sends a message to all the other midfielders in the five [New Zealand] franchises. ‘Frustrating’ is a nice way to put it.
“We waited a long time for a team like Moana Pasifika to be established. I’d like to think it’s our team but this is a not so gentle reminder that ‘yes, we can have our team’… but the best players will still get picked up by New Zealand.”
Although those two games did not constitute a ‘capture’ for New Zealand, or shut down the possibility of Aumua representing Samoa, it did signal intent. The All Blacks are fully within their rights to pick up to three players from Moana Pasifika, but it does bring into question the real purpose behind the foundation of the franchise.
The issue was brought into sharper focus more recently by the curious case of Kyren Taumoefolau. The 21-year-old wing’s career so far has been distinctly ‘back-to-front’. He won his first cap for Tonga against Fiji at the 2023 Pacific Nations Cup, fully eight months before he ever played a game of Super Rugby. Taumoefolau was a Tonga sevens international and had already represented the ‘Ikale Tahi six times, scoring four tries in the process, before he finally started a game for Moana Pasifika in March of the following year. It is the unmistakeable sign of an athletic prodigy.
His start to the current Super Rugby Pacific season has now attracted the interest of the All Blacks selectors. The 6ft 3ins, 100kg finisher possesses a combination of qualities recent Kiwi wingmen have lacked. He has raw cheetah-type acceleration and speed across the ground, with excellent lateral movement and the height and natural spring to be genuinely competitive under the high ball. He can already ‘dunk’ a basketball. Easily. Taumoefolau is a ‘three-tool guy’. The three attributes very rarely appear together, in the same athletic body.
As Taumoefolau told James McOnie from Sky Sports last week: “I would definitely be open to it [representing the All Blacks]. I think I have got one more year on my stand-down [period]… When I was growing up in New Zealand, I have always wanted to put that black jersey on.”
Mark the date in your sporting diaries: 8th October 2026. That is exactly three years on from Taumoefolau’s last appearance for Tonga against Romania at the last World Cup, and that is when he will become eligible for New Zealand. If the silver fern is to be his ultimate career destination, it begs an obvious question: how can Samoa and Tonga ever hope to build themselves into serious contenders on the international stage when the cream of their generational talent is skimmed off by Tier One nations?
The possibility also generated some vigorous debate between ex-All Black centurion Mils Muliaina and former Samoa women’s international Taylah Johnson on Sky’s The Breakdown. Johnson understands multiple eligibility very well: her Mum is part Maori, part European and her Dad is a one-man melting pot of European/Samoan/Tongan and Cook Islander heritage.
“Kyren Taumoefolau made his allegiance to Tonga, and I sat at that World Rugby Council meeting,” she said.
“We didn’t make this [eligibility] rule change to allow people to go to the top nations, it was the other way around – to help the smaller ones.
“Essentially, this is going exactly against what’s happening here.”
Aumua started for the Crusaders but Taumoefolau was absent from the visiting line-up in what may yet prove a season-defining win for Moana Pasifika.
The architect of the victory for Ardie Savea’s men was another player who falls on the fringes of the same multi-qualification debate, Moana 10 Pat Pellegrini. Pellegrini has an Australian father and a Tongan mother and represented New South Wales all the way through schools and up to U20s age group level. Towards the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pellegrini sent himself to Coventry, quite literally, jumping to the second-tier English Championship club from fifth division Sevenoaks in the space of one season. By the beginning of October 2023, he was creating tries for Tonga against the eventual world champions South Africa at the World Cup.
If Pellegrini’s career curve has been rather more orthodox than that of Taumoefolau, in its own way the ascent of the 26-year-old Sydneysider has been no less spectacular. The jumps between fifth and second league tier in England, and thence to Super Rugby and international rugby, have all been negotiated with relative ease, in a congested timeframe.
As his coach at the Midlands club Alex Rae observed: “Since he came back from Tonga’s summer camp, we have seen a change in him. Being around all those world-class players has obviously rubbed off. His preparation has gone up a level which is a testament to [his potential]. It also shows you can come from a different background and have an unusual route and still find your way to the top of the game.”
The Wallaby selection panel would probably be just as interested in Pellegrini as a prospective green and gold 10 as New Zealand are captivated by the idea of Taumoefolau in black – were it not for the fact Pellegrini would not be available until after the 2027 World Cup. He earned the last of his 12 caps for Tonga against Georgia on 24th November last year.
All things being equal, Pellegrini has already demonstrated a capacity for mature game management which is underdeveloped in the current home-grown crop of 10s. This was particularly clear in all aspects of his kicking game against the Crusaders. The game started with a long 50/22 turnover punt delivered from within his own 22.
It was confirmed by the accuracy of his high kicking to contest.
Even when he didn’t get the first attempt right, Pellegrini toughed it out in the kicking duel until he got the outcome he wanted.
The first kick from the right-hand side opens the field for a 50/22 by his opposite number James O’Connor, but by the time the ball arrives Pellegrini has already covered the width of the field to receive the ball safely on the full near his own 22.
The highlight attacking sequence of the game also featured the Sydney-born first five-eighth in a starring role.
A bullet-like long pass off the left hand sets Tevita Ofa free on the right, then Pellegrini runs the perfect ‘cheat’ line to be up in support for the return pass. There is still time for one last snapshot of poise, a final step to bring the ball closer to the poles for the conversion.
World Rugby’s eligibility criteria, which were introduced with the idea of building a bigger talent base for Tier Two nations, can still be played from both ends. Young sensation Taumoefolau may yet earn many more than his six Tonga caps for the All Blacks from the end of next year. What is good for the goose, may be even better for the gander.
The real purpose of the Moana Pasifika franchise falls into question. Can it be a platform to catapult Tonga and Samoa into permanent Tier One contention and fuel the All Blacks at one and the same time? Or will the arrangement fall apart under pressure? It is a delicate balancing act without doubt, and the jury is still very much considering its verdict.
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