{"id":498291,"date":"2026-02-23T06:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498291\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T06:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:19:16","slug":"moana-pasifika-forced-to-ditch-tonga-venue-for-chiefs-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/498291\/","title":{"rendered":"Moana Pasifika forced to ditch Tonga venue for Chiefs clash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Moana Pasifika<\/a> have today announced they\u2019ve had to move this season\u2019s fixture in Tonga<\/a> against the Chiefs<\/a> in round nine, due to a lack of funding and sponsorship.<\/p>\n

The game against the Hamilton-based Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> franchise was scheduled to be played at Teufaiva Stadium in Tonga, but the club is now working with Super Rugby Pacific to find an alternative venue.<\/p>\n

The North Harbour-based Super Rugby Pacific franchise has previously taken two games to Pacific nations, playing in Apia in 2023 and Nuku\u2019alofa in 2024.<\/p>\n

The club say the decision was a difficult one, explaining that the franchise did their best to secure the funding and sponsorship needed, but were unsuccessful in doing so.<\/p>\n

Moana Pasifika CEO Debbie Sorensen said that the club is not funded to take games to the Pacific region, and the organisation believe they should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have explored every avenue possible to try and make it work, but unfortunately we were unable to secure the necessary sponsorship to bring this game to Tonga,\u201d Sorensen said in a Moana Pasifika statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge we face is that we are not funded to bring any games to the Pacific region, and we believe we should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we are heartbroken for our team, our fans, and especially our families in Tonga, we remain hopeful and deeply committed to growing the game in the region. We look forward to opportunities to bring world-class rugby to Tonga and other Pacific countries as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tonga Rugby Union CEO Aisea Aholelei echoes what Sorensen said, comparing Moana Pasifika\u2019s situation with theirs about taking games to Pacific nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI totally understand the situation but it is unfortunate Moana Pasifika cannot make it this year. Moana is in very similar circumstances to Tonga Rugby Union,\u201d Aholelei added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we want to play a game here in Tonga, it\u2019s always a loss making exercise unless a significant sponsor comes our way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to come over sometime soon to support our team and work on how we can make Moana Pasifika stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moana Pasifika have today announced they\u2019ve had to move this season\u2019s fixture in Tonga against the Chiefs in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-498291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}