{"id":328103,"date":"2026-03-13T18:29:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/328103\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:29:15","slug":"tana-umaga-calls-out-blues-top-brass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/328103\/","title":{"rendered":"Tana Umaga calls out Blues’ top brass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Moana Pasifika<\/a> head coach Tana Umaga<\/a> is not happy with the Blues, issuing stern criticism of the Auckland<\/a> club\u2019s alleged unaccommodating attitude as his club continues to struggle to establish a true home base in their fifth season in Super Rugby Pacific.<\/p>\n

North Harbour<\/a> Stadium was the scene of Moana\u2019s breakthrough campaign in 2025, but a licensing agreement limits their access to the North Shore venue to just five games in the 16-week season. The limit is reportedly due to fears of over-saturation in the Auckland market. North Harbour Stadium is located 20 km north of the Blues\u2019 home venue, Eden Park, over Auckland\u2019s Harbour Bridge.<\/p>\n

Umaga\u2019s club have previously taken a home game to Samoa, while three fixtures slated for Tonga<\/a> have fallen through, including an upcoming round 9 contest. Auckland had a Pasifika population of more than 275,000 as of 2023, and originally hosted Moana Pasifika at Mt Smart Stadium.<\/p>\n

It is reported that the Blues<\/a> had expressed concerns about having a second team in the city, which contributed to the five-game limit imposed on Moana in their licensing agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if they realise there\u2019s two professional rugby teams in this city, but we do know they don\u2019t want us here,\u201d Umaga told reporters ahead of Sunday\u2019s clash between Moana Pasifika and the Blues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got nothing against the playing group, nothing against the staff, because I\u2019ve worked in there, but the people that make decisions have made it very hard for us to survive over here. That\u2019s why they probably are our greatest rivals, because they want to see us not do well and not thrive. And I struggle with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen rugby is in a place where we\u2019re at, I struggle with the narrative that comes out of there last year that they believe they\u2019re representing the Pacific. Well, a Pacific team is here, but they\u2019re not willing to assist us or embrace us for the betterment of rugby. I do struggle with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why this game does mean a lot to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Head-to-Head <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last 5 Meetings<\/p>\n

Average Points scored<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Moana have taken a home game to Pukekohe (55 km south of Eden Park) already in the young season, but Umaga says getting that fixture over the line also faced opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our game against Tonga didn\u2019t go through, straight away we had the Northland [Rugby] Union come to us and say \u2018hey, we\u2019d love to have you\u2019, which they\u2019ve done numerous times,\u201d Umaga added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Blues said, \u2018no, that\u2019s in our region. You can\u2019t go up there\u2019. Then, this year, because we play our other games at [Pukekohe], and that\u2019s in the Chiefs\u2019 region, the Blues tried to say to us, \u2018that\u2019s actually within the supercity\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re up against. But that\u2019s fine. We just have to look back in our past as Pacific Islanders around how tough it is for us here, how tough our families and our parents have fought to provide for us, to give us an opportunity in this great country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing new for us as a small entity, trying to build and grow for the benefit of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Blues CEO Karl Budge issued a response to Umaga\u2019s criticisms, viewing the coach\u2019s comments as an attempt to motivate his team and fans ahead of Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTana was one of my idols growing up, and I have a huge amount of respect for him as a player and a coach,\u201d Budge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is Tana trying to create a bit of extra spice against their cross-town rivals ahead of our game on Sunday. We have really enjoyed the rivalry we\u2019ve created on the field, and this weekend will be no different.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been great to see our two proud clubs work closely together to promote the game and ensure rugby fans, be they in Blues or Moana Pasifika jerseys, get out and support their team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to what will be another tough game against them at Eden Park on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moana Pasifika head coach Tana Umaga is not happy with the Blues, issuing stern criticism of the Auckland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-328103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}