Moana Pasifika have confirmed the Super Rugby franchise will fold at the end of the season, citing \u201cfinancial, operational, and strategic realities\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the tireless dedication of players, staff, and supporters, it is no longer viable to continue the franchise at this level of competition,\u201d the team said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The franchise was founded in 2020 after calls for many years for more Pacific involvement in Super Rugby.<\/p>\n
The team focused on players of Samoan, Tongan and Cook Islands descent, and was based in Auckland.<\/p>\n
A second Pacific-based team, Fijian Drua, will remain in the competition.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika chair Dr Kiki Maoate said disbanding the franchise was \u201cone of the hardest decisions we have ever made\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are immensely proud of our players, staff, and the community who have supported our team over the years,\u201d Maoate said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur commitment now is to ensure a smooth transition for everyone affected and to celebrate our legacy by finishing the season strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s 60 players and staff, led by coach Tana Umaga, were informed of the closure on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika is owned by the Pasifika Medical Association, and the New Zealand Herald reported running costs are more than $10m each year.<\/p>\n
On the PMA website, it said the mission of Moana Pasifika is \u201cto champion the collective power of Pacific people and culture and put it on a global stage, encouraging participation in sport and development and support of Pacific youth\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moana Pasifika have confirmed the Super Rugby franchise will fold at the end of the season, citing \u201cfinancial,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-531618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}