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Moana Pasifika name five-time Super Rugby winner as second signing
By Alex McLeod
Super Rugby Pacific expansion franchise Moana Pasifika have unveiled former Crusaders halfback Ereatara Enari as their second official signing.
The announcement of Enari's signing comes a day after they confirmed former Wallabies playmaker Christian Leali'ifano as the franchise's first-ever official signing as he joins the side from the NTT Communications Shining Arcs in Japan.
Leali'ifano could be joined in the halves by Enari in Moana Pasifika's inaugural season next year as the 24-year-old will bring plenty of experience with him to team's home base of Mt Smart Stadium.
Of Samoan and Maori heritage, Enari is a former New Zealand Schools representative who was part of the New Zealand U20 side that was crowned world champions in Georgia four years ago.
The year beforehand, he made his first-class debut for Canterbury as a teenager, making 40 appearances for the province and winning two national titles between 2016 and 2020 before relocating to Hawke's Bay for this year's NPC.
Enari has since shone for the Magpies, playing a crucial role in Hawke's Bay's success thus far this season as they sit at the top of the Premiership standings.
At Super Rugby level, Enari made his debut for the Crusaders in 2017, but was forced to wait two years before making his second outing for the franchise after breaking his leg in two places four years ago.
Upon his return to action, the Auckland-born product found it difficult to earn game time behind the likes of one-test All Blacks halfback Mitchell Drummond and Super Rugby centurion Bryn Hall.
In fact, Enari only made nine appearances under the tutelage of head coach Scott Robertson between 2017 and 2021, but still managed to pick up three Super Rugby and two Super Rugby Aotearoa winners' medals during his time in Christchurch.
Enari is also of strong rugby lineage, being the nephew of All Blacks greats Sir Michael Jones and Eroni Clarke, and the cousin of five-test All Blacks wing Caleb Clarke.
Two further players are expected to be unveiled by Moana Pasifika on Saturday.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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