‘Ready to go’ for competition

THE Kanaloa Hawai’i team says they are “ready to go” for Super Rugby in 2021 and have rubbished claims from Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan that their inclusion would be bad for the Blues.

Tracy Atiga, who heads up the project, told Stuff that the south Auckland-based side had already identified high performance facilities, potential stadia (including Mount Smart), had the financial backing in place, and would open its arms to current Super Rugby players who wanted to play test rugby for the Pacific Island nations.

“As of yesterday New Zealand Rugby sent out their expression of interest documents to all of the interested parties, and we were one of them,” Atiga said on Wednesday.

“The timelines is pretty tight but anyone who has been involved in our MLR (United States Major League Rugby) journey over the past few months, and obviously with our business which has been going for 16 years, will understand that we’ve been planning this for a long, long time.

“As far as timing goes, the reality is something is available for next year, and we’re ready to go.”

Stuff understands that NZ Rugby is running a short and sharp process for parties interested in running team in Super Rugby next year, and that applicants will get an answer within the next month.

However, Kanaloa Hawai’i, who are backed by former Blues and All Blacks icons such as Joe Rokocoko, Jerome Kaino and John Afoa, are adamant that the timing is perfect and the money is in place.

“We’ve got backing that supports two teams if we wanted to,” Atiga said.

“The fact that a Super team has actually come up, the timing has been amazing.

“I don’t think we are short of anyone else who is applying for that (PI) team.

“Money talks. If we want pay for a world-class high performance facility then we’ll do that.

“We’ll probably look at Mount Smart, and there’s no reason we wouldn’t look at Eden Park.”

Atiga also revealed that she had tried to contact to Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan after he declared a Pacific Island team in South Auckland could damage the Blues, and should instead be placed in Sydney.

“I did reach out and invited him to ring me,” Atiga said. “My initial thought was ‘wouldn’t it be madness for the Waratahs to be hosting another team’.

“It was obviously very much a political rant but I invited him to reach out to me and have a chat.”