NZR abides by selection choice despite Kanaloa Pasifika legal action threat

AUCKLAND: New Zealand Rugby is standing by its process for selecting a Pasifika team to enter the Super Rugby competition from 2022.

Kanaloa Pasifika intends taking legal action against New Zealand Rugby claiming the organisation breached its own rules by appointing Moana

Pasifika as a Primary Partner when the group did not take part in the formal tender process.

The Aucklandbased Moana Pasifika bid and a Fijiled delegation have been chosen to join the newlook competition in 2022.

Kanaloa chief executive

Tracy Atiga said it had yesterday instructed its legal counsel to issue a letter to NZR.

If the union does not withdraw and retract its decision to appoint Moana Pasifika as the primary partner within 14 days, Kanaloa Pasifika Rugby will file proceedings with the High

Court seeking an injunction to the tender process.

In a statement, New Zealand Rugby said it was engaging with Kanaloa Pasifika directly but stands by its process as being "rigorous and fair".

Last week, the Pacific Rugby Players association welcomed the news that the region would finally have a team of its own in Super Rugby.

Chief executive Aayden Clarke said while there were still details to work through, the Fiji and Moana Pasifika bids offered the best of both worlds.

‘‘Having one there with Fiji, who’ve got a strong player base and very good high performance systems already set up.

‘‘And if there’s to be Moana Pasifika based out of initially New Zealand, which as you expect could possibly accommodate for a lot of Samoan and Tongan players, it’s sort of two different systems being set up and being ready to go for 2022 but it’s very much achievable and they’ll be very strong teams.’’

Moana Pasifika is backed by a heavyweight group, including All Blacks greats Sir Bryan Williams and Sir Michael Jones, who are former and present members of the New Zealand Rugby Board. — RNZ