{"id":702837,"date":"2026-05-29T19:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702837\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T19:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:43:10","slug":"tana-umaga-staying-positive-about-moana-pasifika-rescue-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/702837\/","title":{"rendered":"Tana Umaga staying ‘positive’ about Moana Pasifika rescue plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbarians<\/a><\/p>\n

Moana Pasifika boss Tana Umaga wants his side to bow out gracefully when they play what could potentially be their final Super Rugby match this weekend.<\/p>\n

Unless they gain a last-minute reprieve, the financially stricken outfit\u2019s clash against the Brumbies in Canberra will be their last-ever match but Umaga wants his players to go out on a high.<\/p>\n

Moana<\/a> are firmly rooted to the bottom of the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> standings after winning just one of their matches played this season and they have amassed a paltry five points.<\/p>\n

That means they are just playing for pride in the tournament while the Brumbies are determined to clinch a victory as it will mean they secure fourth position in the table.<\/p>\n

It was revealed last month that Moana would be axed from Super Rugby Pacific due to the financial burden placed on them.<\/p>\n

This, after the Auckland-based franchise\u2019s ownership confirmed that it would not continue funding the \u201cunviable\u201d operation beyond the current campaign.<\/p>\n

Moana was established in 2020 to provide a top-level pathway for players of Pacific heritage, and they joined Super Rugby in 2022.<\/p>\n

Unless new owners come to Moana\u2019s rescue at the 11th hour, Super Rugby Pacific will have 10 competing clubs in 2027 after the Melbourne Rebels suffered a similar fate due to financial difficulties after the 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n

Crusaders player ratings: Departing All Black shines in milestone match while fellow international and \u2018unsung hero\u2019 also catch the eye<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got nothing to lose, and we\u2019ve got to be confident in what we\u2019re doing,\u201d said Umaga<\/a>, who will join new All Blacks boss Dave Rennie\u2019s backroom staff as an assistant coach ahead of their upcoming Nations Championship Tests against France, Italy and Ireland in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to get a good result for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

According to New Zealand media reports there are parties interested in acquiring Moana Pasifika\u2019s licence, although no concrete offers have come to the fore yet.<\/p>\n

Despite his team\u2019s current situation Umaga, who is a former All Blacks captain, remains optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some positives, some good people just saying some positive things,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s hope and when there\u2019s hope, there\u2019s a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

After initially struggling in Super Rugby Pacific \u2013 where they finished at the bottom of the table in 2022 and 2023 and 11th in the 12-team tournament in 2024 \u2013 Moana were much more competitive in 2025 when they finished seventh.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Crusaders v Hurricanes: Five takeaways as Sevu Reece dominates 100th game and the \u2018most pleasing\u2019 sight for Dave Rennie and All Blacks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moana Pasifika boss Tana Umaga wants his side to bow out gracefully when they play what could potentially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,216832,44,760,85,29898],"class_list":["post-702837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-moana-pasifika","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702837","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=702837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}