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Auckland based 'Moana Pasifika' Super Rugby team bid unveiled - but are Fiji on board?
By Ian Cameron
A new south Auckland based group - Moana Pasifika - have launched a bid to become Super Rugby's much-vaunted new Pacific rugby team, but they may have started on the wrong foot with at least one of the three Pacific unions.
According to Stuff.nz the team is backed by All Black legend Bryan Williams, as well as the former Attorney Generals of both Samoa and Tonga. The group that wants to represent all of the Pacific nations, and are proposing to work closely with Counties-Manukau rugby union, who are based in south Auckland.
The inclusion of a Pasifika team in the Super Rugby has been talked about for years and the new group intend to enter the Moana Pasifika team in next year's Super Rugby Aotearoa competition. The genesis of the Moana Pasifika side came about during the NZR process of trying to arrange a match between the All Blacks and a Pacific XV.
Now the side look set to team up with Counties-Manukau.
“We have had a lot of dialogue with the Moana Pasifika group,” Counties Chief Executive Aaron Lawton told Stuff. “They are very impressive, and while nothing is over the line yet by any stretch, we have certainly indicated an interest to work with them on something we feel could have a massive long-term impact on rugby in our region.”
However, they might yet be missing a significant piece of the jigsaw - Fiji.
Former Flying Fijians Captain, Simon Raiwalui, the General Manager High-Performance for the Fiji Rugby Union, has thrown cold water on a claim that the Fijian Rugby Union have given any sort of informal support for the bid - as suggested in the article.
"It’s understood there’s informal support for the bid from the Samoan, Tongan and Fijian rugby unions" - you were told by who of this support may I ask?" he tweeted.
The 39-test Flying Fijian would clearly know if the bid had support, informal or otherwise, so his tweet casts a shadow on the new Auckland based bid. Fiji- 11th in the world rankings - are currently the most accomplished of the three largest Pacific Island nations, and their involvement in a Pasifika Super Rugby side is clearly vital.
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Go to commentsI’m not fully convinced this was any sort of deliberate grand plan by SB, other than perhaps a masterful way (as it transpired) of dealing with injuries to a couple of key players in positions that lack high calibre alternatives in SB’s view. Losing Martin and Lawrence was disruptive to the team England ideally wanted and pretty likely both start if they had been able to. Ted Hill clearly isn’t fully trusted, despite being on the bench vs Scotland and Italy, and Slade may have had his day in light of an winger being drafted in to start as Test centre for the first time. Moving Earl to centre is worthwhile, in the right circumstances, as a proving exercise for future reference but it’s not the way to go against any of the top teams.
So they may well have added another page to their emergency playbook but I’m doubtful it was a genuine attempt at cutting edge innovation. More a case of necessity being the mother of invention that happened to suit the opposition on that given day. I guess we’ll know more in the Autumn but it won’t be until next year in Paris that the first real test of that set up would come against a heavy power team, IF it’s still in use ofc…
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