Jeff Wilson, Mils Muliaina, and Stephen Donald have weighed in on the demise of Moana Pasifika, with the Super Rugby Pacific club set to disband at the end of the season.
Last week, the owners of the team informed the players and staff that they would not be able to financially support the club beyond the current season. This will leave the Moana Pasifika players clamouring to find a new side next season unless someone comes in to save the team.
Moana Pasifika’s ‘gut-wrenching’ demise
Former All Blacks full-back Muliaina believes that Moana, who joined Super Rugby Pacific in 2022, was set up to fail and said that he was ‘really disappointed’ by the news.
“It’s obviously really gut-wrenching that Moana Pasifika are gone,” he said on Sky Sport’s Breakdown show.
“The one common thing that comes out is that there’s no money. It was set up with a lot of emotion; there needed to be a team. Was it set up properly? Possibly not. PMA, which invested in it and owned it, obviously lost a lot of its funding.
“What does it look like now for Moana Pasifika, and do they need to be saved? I still think there’s got to be a discussion around the investment that New Zealand and possibly even World Rugby need to put into that. But from now on, it’s really disappointing. It’s so sad on the players’ front, but also the fact that this team wasn’t necessarily set up to succeed. There are a lot of factors that hindered them. Where do they go now? I’m unsure.”
Ex-fly-half Donald agreed with Muliaina and has called on World Rugby to make an investment to ensure that Tonga and Samoa are better prepared for the Rugby World Cup.
This, after the game’s governing body decided to expand their showpiece event, which will now include a round of 16 knockout stage before the quarter-finals.
The bigger picture
While Muliaina questioned whether or not Moana should be saved, Donald believed it was a straightforward decision.
“Without doubt, they need to be saved, but from a bigger picture point of view, World Rugby needs to step in; it goes back to the argument about how much the Pacific Islands have given the global game and how important they are to the global game,” he said.
“We’ve got a round of 16 at next year’s World Cup if Tonga and Samoa are no longer proper rugby-playing nations. Who’s going to make up those knockout rounds? That’s looking at the big picture.
“For me, there’s got to be an investment from World Rugby because it is such an integral part of the global game, and if that investment means keeping Moana alive, having academies in Tonga or Samoa, something like that has to be looked at.”
As for Wilson, he believes that New Zealand Rugby shouldn’t bear the financial responsibility of saving Moana Pasifika. He adds that the club lost its way, essentially becoming New Zealand’s sixth Super Rugby team instead of being a pathway for Samoan and Tongan players.
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“Everyone almost accepts that this has become a sixth New Zealand team.”
Since their inception, Moana has been based in Auckland and hasn’t been able to find a home in Tonga or Samoa, which Wilson believes to have played a role in their demise.
“So I look at this from the fact that I feel for the players and I feel for the coaches. The organization itself, I think, lost its vision for what it was supposed to be created for,” he explained.
“Initially, it was about finding a way to create a pathway for Pacific Island players in Super Rugby, but it was to come from the islands and to find a way to be based in the islands. That was the only way for me that this was going to be a successful venture because all of a sudden, everyone almost accepts that this has become a sixth New Zealand team. Whereas it was about developing talent, it was about developing players and giving them the opportunity and having their own base.
“What we’ve ended up doing is we’ve clouded that vision, and the organization initially focused too much on winning games of rugby versus actually finding a home. That was the initial vision, and that’s what has been lost for me. And so, if they’re going to survive, the goal has to be to get back to that so that they can find a base, whether it’s in Apia, whether it’s in Tonga, wherever it might be, but actually create something that is a pathway.”
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Not NZ Rugby’s responsibility
The legendary All Blacks winger says that if Moana are to be saved, they need to go back to the initial vision of the club, and it needs to be a collective effort from NZ Rugby, World Rugby, and SANZAAR.
He adds that NZ Rugby can’t be expected to cover the costs as all the New Zealand Super Rugby teams will be losing money this year.
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“It’s a tough one, though, because when you’re talking about resourcing, all of the New Zealand Rugby teams are going to lose money this year. All of them. No one is going to make any money right now. Everyone’s under financial pressure,” he continued.
“So, the suggestion that New Zealand rugby has to bankroll the entire Moana Pasifika organization, I don’t think is fair. There has to be an agreed principle, whether that’s from World Rugby or not, but the issue is that investment was has been made for the past 5 years and it hasn’t worked. I think delivering on what they originally decided was why they wanted to be in the competition; that’s the most important thing for me.
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“If they’re going to be saved, it can’t just be one year they’re here; it has to have a real purpose and find a home. I know that’s difficult and challenging, but it has to be a collective effort. World Rugby has to be a part of it, obviously SANZAAR and New Zealand rugby. But I don’t think you can expect NZR, who have their own financial pressures right now, to have lost how many millions over the last few years? You can’t expect them to keep dipping into that well.
“We do invest a lot in the game, and a lot of these players are actually playing NPC rugby, which New Zealand Rugby pays for, and that’s a significant amount of money every year. So, there needs to be a serious rethink. I don’t want a one-year solution. I want a longer-term plan.”
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