Moana Pasifika need help to thrive
Rebels could join Kiwi teams cherry picking the best Pacific Island talent
There are reports from Australia that the Rebels may be saved from extinction but the salvation plan will make it yet harder for Moana Pasifika to survive in Super Rugby.
The Rebels are hoping a group of investors led by former Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford is going to raise $30 million to pay off their debts and relocate the club to Melbourne’s Western Suburbs, where there is a vibrant Pasifika community.
The plan carries the hope of viability and almost aligns with Rugby Australia’s previous thinking of trying to facilitate a merger between the Rebels and Moana Pasifika.
But repositioning the Rebels as a club with a Pasifika fanbase and most likely predominantly Pasifika squad will make it yet harder for Moana to attract talent, grow their support, establish their identity and secure their viability.
Moana came into the competition in 2022 to provide a Southern Hemisphere professional pathway for Samoans and Tongans.
The premise was to create a club in New Zealand where the majority of the squad were eligible for Samoa and Tonga. Then players from the Pacific — and maybe even some in Europe and Japan — would sign to play for a team that would have a defined culture and compelling mission to fly the flag for a region that contributes an enormous amount to the game’s ecosystem without getting its rightful acknowledgement.
The problem for Moana has been that the Blues have long seen and promoted themselves as a club with a strong Pasifika influence, based in the world’s largest Polynesian city.
The Chiefs and Hurricanes also have strong Pasifika connections, and with the Rebels possibly about to go down that same road, there’s a sense of Moana being on an impossibly difficult journey to be the No 1 destination for Samoan and Tongan players and rugby followers.
The past two weeks have shown how hard it is for Moana to succeed. On Saturday night, the Chiefs pulled them apart in devastating fashion, and the previous weekend, they were well beaten by the Blues.
But the hardest part for Moana to square away is the volume of Pasifika players they faced in those games — which accentuates how hard they have found it to sign the quality of personnel needed to be competitive.
In Hamilton, Moana faced a rampant Samipeni Finau and Samisoni Taukei’aho, who both grew up in Tonga until they were lured to New Zealand to finish their schooling.
They also faced Emoni Narawa — who was edging back towards his best form after a long injury break — another who finished his education in New Zealand after growing up in Fiji.
And these three represent how the system is rigged against Moana, and by extension, Samoa, Tonga and, to a lesser extent, Fiji.
There are significant numbers of teenagers flooding into New Zealand each year from the Islands on school scholarships — programmes that steer them into the arms of the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes (as it is heavily North Island schools doing the recruiting).
The established New Zealand clubs have more sophisticated talent identification programmes, better facilities, more money and offer a pathway to the All Blacks.
Moana can’t compete, and the best talent from the Islands is flowing into the arms of the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes, while the best New Zealand-based teens who identify as Pasifika are also gravitating to the New Zealand clubs given the massive difference in opportunity.
The system is stacked against Moana succeeding and no one seemingly wants to do anything to change that and explore ways in which the balance of power could be altered.
Hampering Moana is ultimately hampering everyone, because if Super Rugby is ever going to properly grab the imagination on both sides of the Tasman and throughout the wider Pacific region and beyond, it needs more competitive teams.
There’s no easy fix, but if Samoa and Tonga were afforded more compelling test schedules and greater opportunities to play meaningful and financially lucrative tests, Pasifika players wouldn’t automatically gravitate towards playing for the All Blacks and Wallabies.
It has been left to World Rugby to look after the Pacific Island nations but it would be infinitely better if the Sanzaar alliance took control and unveiled a long-term plan to integrate Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Japan into some kind of annual competition that connected to the Rugby Championship.
That would be a start in helping divert Pasifika talent towards Moana, as would implementing some kind of agreement whereby they get first dibs on those players born in the Islands who come to New Zealand on educational scholarships.
Something needs to change and for Moana to be helped, not hindered, in their attempt to establish themselves in Super Rugby.