Moana Pasifika and the Gallagher Chiefs are teaming up to bring Super Rugby Pacific to<\/p>\n
Rotorua for their highly-anticipated clash on Saturday April 11.<\/p>\n
The match which was scheduled to be played in Tonga, will now be played in the Bay of Plenty<\/p>\n
at Rotorua International Stadium.<\/p>\n
When the teams kick off at the family-friendly time of 2pm, it will provide a significant boost for<\/p>\n
Rotorua International Stadium, which is widely regarded as one of the best stadiums in New<\/p>\n
Zealand.<\/p>\n
It has successfully hosted the NRL All Stars game in 2023 with a crowd of over 17,000 turning<\/p>\n
out to support. Last year Manu Samoa staged a home Test match there against Fiji with a crowd<\/p>\n
of around 5000 in attendance.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika CEO, Debbie Sorensen, says the team is looking forward to engaging with local<\/p>\n
rugby fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we are sad we can\u2019t take this game to Tonga, we do know that our fans and our<\/p>\n
community are everywhere \u2013 including in the Bay of Plenty region. I know Rotorua will also<\/p>\n
welcome the visit by the Chiefs, so it\u2019s a win-win for both teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiefs CEO, Simon Graafhuis, says it is exciting to have another game in the region after the<\/p>\n
Gallagher Chiefs played a preseason game in Mount Maunganui in January.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love our fans and having the chance to play in Rotorua is a real bonus for us. We know we<\/p>\n
have strong support in the city and we are confident those fans will turn out in force for this<\/p>\n
match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrew Wilson Chief Executive RotoruaNZ added: \u201cFor Chiefs and Moana Pasifika fans<\/p>\n
travelling from Auckland, Waikato and across the Bay of Plenty, this is more than just 80minutes of rugby \u2014 it\u2019s an opportunity to make a weekend of it in one of New Zealand\u2019s most<\/p>\n
unique destinations.\u201d<\/p>\n
A number of Moana Pasifika players are deeply connected to the region. Prop Malakai<\/p>\n
Hala-Ngatai has ties back to Te Arawa which is in the Bay of Plenty region, while lock Allan<\/p>\n
Craig has ties to Ng\u0101ti Ranginui. Jackson Garden-Bachop is also proud to hail from Ng\u0101ti Awa.<\/p>\n
Loose Forward Semisi Paea was raised in Rotorua and attended Rotorua Boys High School. He<\/p>\n
played junior rugby for Ngongotaha Rugby Club and has played for the Bay of Plenty Steamers<\/p>\n
since 2021.<\/p>\n
Gallagher Chiefs halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi was born in Rotorua, attended Rotorua Boys<\/p>\n
High School and plays for Whakarewarewa Rugby Club. He was delighted the Gallagher Chiefs<\/p>\n
will return to his hometown where they have played 13 times before.<\/p>\n
\u201cRotorua is a rugby town, and I know the locals will be keen to see the boys up close.\u201d Tahuriorangi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s superb news that the Chiefs will be playing there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moana Pasifika and the Gallagher Chiefs are teaming up to bring Super Rugby Pacific to Rotorua for their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-519409","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\/519409","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=519409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}