Moana Pasifika 2024
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@Bovidae think Craig was on a full contract at the start of the season wasnt he?
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@Bovidae sorry, I meant he was called in full time prior to the season being kicked off (was called up FT back in Jan)
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@taniwharugby said in Moana Pasifika 2024:
@Bovidae sorry, I meant he was called in full time prior to the season being kicked off (was called up FT back in Jan)
You could be right, but he would still have replaced someone injured from the original squad above. Maybe Ofa Tauatevalu?
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Genuine question here and by no means any hate towards Moana. How long do you see Moana lasting in this competition? I’ve had multiple conversations to friends etc and we all struggle to see how Moana can improve. Everything takes time but it’s hard to know what their plan is moving forward.
Just curious to know what you all think
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@Landers92 said in Crusaders v Moana Pasifika:
Genuine question here and by no means any hate towards Moana. How long do you see Moana lasting in this competition? I’ve had multiple conversations to friends etc and we all struggle to see how Moana can improve. Everything takes time but it’s hard to know what their plan is moving forward.
Just curious to know what you all think
Not sure if they’ll last that long tbh. They don’t have a home base and they just don’t look like they’ll improve anytime soon. We might be at Super 10 before you know it.
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@Landers92 I can't be bothered arguing it with people on here because they dont get it and dont care about Pacific Island rugby, but the improvement of Samoa on the international stage last season suggests that Moana is working on the field. They're there to improve Samoan and Tongan rugby on the field where they can have players playing at a high level week in week out which is what it's doing, instead of picking guys for their national teams who don't play at a very high level. They would love to play at home more often (look at the reception they received for their game in Tonga this year), but the cost of it is about $300,000 to run a game out of the Islands, hence why they play the majority of their games in NZ, and at this stage can only really afford to take one game to the Islands a year. Whangarei seemed to turn out for their game against the Reds this year, maybe that's an option going forward instead of playing out of Mt Smart? As for the funding side, World Rugby fund things as part of their help towards having pacific sides playing professional rugby, with NZ Rugby holding the license, basically so the money doesn't go missing with the corrupt officials in the Islands where the rugby side dont see it, so funding isn't really a problem. Is Moana a worthwhile exercise? Of course it fucken is! It's nice for Samoa and Tonga to finally be able to dive into professional rugby to pick players instead of making the side out of Auckland club rugby players. Have they made strides this year? Well they won 4 games this year, as opposed to 3 in their first 2 years, so yes, they have. Anyway, make what you will out if that, but that's basically how it is, and it's nice having a pacific side playing in SR as opposed to some pointless side like the Sunwolves used to be.
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@African-Monkey said in Moana Pasifika 2024:
the cost of it is about $300,000 to run a game out of the Islands
Is it because they are one off events? Would having 3-4 games in a row in the islands solve the cost problem?
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@Duluth It's explained better in this article here, and it was $280,000, not $300,000 to host ther Reds in Samoa last season.
John Campbell: Winless in 13, but we need Moana Pasifika to thrive
Campbell visited the team at their final home training session of the season to discover what makes them tick, and what's holding them back.
$280,000.
The most expensive home game in Super Rugby.
What’s cruel about this is that Apia is where Moana Pasifika attracted their biggest crowd of 2023. What’s cruel about this is that rugby lovers in Samoa (and Tonga) are desperate to have teams visit. What’s cruel about this is that a team designed to grow the strength of rugby in Samoa and Tonga can’t afford to play there. (And that the teams who can afford to play there, don’t.)
(A shoutout to the Queensland Reds, here. Who agreed to play in Apia, made it such a great occasion, and brought a planeload of big spending supporters with them. Moana Pasifika, and Samoa, are grateful.)
Sakalia has a solution. If Samoa’s major problem as a venue is that every cable, every camera, every microphone, every technician involved in broadcasting a game from Apia has to be flown in, at such great cost, now is the time to build broadcast capabilities in Samoa and Tonga.
He leans forward. Way forward.
“Our intention is, we want to present a case, a proposal, to both MFAT (New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and DFAT (the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) in Australia, to say ‘here’s the economic opportunity for the Pacific’. We’re going to explain that a key impediment that’s preventing these games from happening is the cost of broadcasting. How can we increase the broadcasting capacity and capability in the Pacific? How can we make it fit for purpose for professional sporting events?”
This is serious. This proposal is going in. And Moana Pasifika’s belief is that if the TV issue is resolved, then they’ll be better able to compete. “Home” games will not be an impediment, they will not carry a huge and unsupportable cost, they will be a strength.
The Fijian Drua demonstrate the possibilities here. Thanks to a way more established broadcasting infrastructure in Fiji, in part the result of a direct and highly successful investment in being able to host sporting events, the Drua’s home games have provided the best atmosphere in Super Rugby, by far. A treat so sparkling they’ve made most other crowds look afternoon nap time at The Autumn Leaves Retirement Home.
And if we compare the Fijian Drua with Moana Pasifika, we see a striking difference. Moana Pasifika have won no games this season. The Fijian Drua have won five – four of them in Fiji. (The other in Auckland, against, sigh, Moana Pasifika.)
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@African-Monkey said in Moana Pasifika 2024:
@Landers92 I can't be bothered arguing it with people on here because they dont get it and dont care about Pacific Island rugby, but the improvement of Samoa on the international stage last season suggests that Moana is working on the field. They're there to improve Samoan and Tongan rugby on the field where they can have players playing at a high level week in week out which is what it's doing, instead of picking guys for their national teams who don't play at a very high level. They would love to play at home more often (look at the reception they received for their game in Tonga this year), but the cost of it is about $300,000 to run a game out of the Islands, hence why they play the majority of their games in NZ, and at this stage can only really afford to take one game to the Islands a year. Whangarei seemed to turn out for their game against the Reds this year, maybe that's an option going forward instead of playing out of Mt Smart? As for the funding side, World Rugby fund things as part of their help towards having pacific sides playing professional rugby, with NZ Rugby holding the license, basically so the money doesn't go missing with the corrupt officials in the Islands where the rugby side dont see it, so funding isn't really a problem. Is Moana a worthwhile exercise? Of course it fucken is! It's nice for Samoa and Tonga to finally be able to dive into professional rugby to pick players instead of making the side out of Auckland club rugby players. Have they made strides this year? Well they won 4 games this year, as opposed to 3 in their first 2 years, so yes, they have. Anyway, make what you will out if that, but that's basically how it is, and it's nice having a pacific side playing in SR as opposed to some pointless side like the Sunwolves used to be.
Was just a genuine question mate, absolutely nothing distasteful towards Moana like I said in the post so I hope it wasn’t taken that way…
That’s a good way of looking at the bigger picture for the pacific nations having stronger national sides. What we thought is where do we see them in 3-5 years is all, just wanted to see what everyone else thought. Again like I said everything takes time so slowly improving each season is a good thing.
Appreciate the response, good to get others perspectives on it 👌🏽
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I think it's fine and well having Moana as a development pathway for Samoan and Tongan players, but there has to be the real possibility of them becoming a competitive team in Super Rugby too. Getting one additional win this year could be an anomaly or it could be a sign of improvement. Ultimately, they still largely failed to impress against the better teams and it could just be the up-and-down nature of some of the weaker sides that saw them grab an extra win in 2024.
The problem is that man for man, most of MP's guys are worse than each of the other NZ franchises, so unless NZR/WR finds a way to prevent that (e.g. giving MP the funds to select five All Blacks who can still represent NZ when Test rugby rolls around), nothing is likely to change in the future. With the current set-up where eight teams make the finals, MP are bound to grab a berth eventually but if it were reduced to four (or even six) then it's hard to see them ever having much of an impact on Super Rugby.
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@Landers92 Nah you're allgood mate, you asked it in a respectful manner as well, just the usual same crap responses we constantly get from the same people in regards to MP which gets tiresome reading.
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Interesting post mate.
Personally though, I think that World rugby needs to man up here and get them set up to play most of their home games in the islands.
The Drua are dangerous because everyone knows they are fucking worrying in Fiji.
MP can't establish that kind of support in South Auckland and I think they'll only continue to muddle in this competition until they can sort out how to play in the islands.
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@gt12 It would be nice, and hopefully in the future, Moana can afford to play more and more in the Islands as opposed to the one off fixture we currently see, but at this stage, it's kind of a get what you're given scenario, and at this stage, they're not willing to stump up the funds to play every game there.
Who knows? Maybe we'll have a game each in Samoa and Tonga in the next year or 2 which would be a nice starting point where we could build from there, but when we're not playing in the Islands, could we at least play our home games away from bloody Mt Smart stadium and host more games out of the regions that don't get any Super Rugby (Whangarei, Napier etc.) I'm sure they'll get behind the team a lot more and jump at the opportunity at having more Super Rugby action.
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@Mr-Fish said in Moana Pasifika 2024:
I think it's fine and well having Moana as a development pathway for Samoan and Tongan players, but there has to be the real possibility of them becoming a competitive team in Super Rugby too. Getting one additional win this year could be an anomaly or it could be a sign of improvement. Ultimately, they still largely failed to impress against the better teams and it could just be the up-and-down nature of some of the weaker sides that saw them grab an extra win in 2024.
The problem is that man for man, most of MP's guys are worse than each of the other NZ franchises, so unless NZR/WR finds a way to prevent that (e.g. giving MP the funds to select five All Blacks who can still represent NZ when Test rugby rolls around), nothing is likely to change in the future. With the current set-up where eight teams make the finals, MP are bound to grab a berth eventually but if it were reduced to four (or even six) then it's hard to see them ever having much of an impact on Super Rugby.
I think @African-Monkey's solution to improving broadcasting infrastructure is a good one to enable more home games. That would certainly assist in developing support and enable young players to see a pathway to professionalism much closer to home.
Otherwise the team is a case of half-pregnant.
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One thing mentioned in an article I read is that the defence has improved (relatively). MP have still conceded the most tries (64), but before the Crusaders game it was markedly better than in 2023 (92) and in 2022 (76). The set piece has also improved, particularly the scrum. Small steps for the on-field performance.
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@African-Monkey said in Moana Pasifika 2024:
@Landers92 I can't be bothered arguing it with people on here because they dont get it and dont care about Pacific Island rugby, but the improvement of Samoa on the international stage last season suggests that Moana is working on the field. They're there to improve Samoan and Tongan rugby on the field where they can have players playing at a high level week in week out which is what it's doing, instead of picking guys for their national teams who don't play at a very high level. They would love to play at home more often (look at the reception they received for their game in Tonga this year), but the cost of it is about $300,000 to run a game out of the Islands, hence why they play the majority of their games in NZ, and at this stage can only really afford to take one game to the Islands a year. Whangarei seemed to turn out for their game against the Reds this year, maybe that's an option going forward instead of playing out of Mt Smart? As for the funding side, World Rugby fund things as part of their help towards having pacific sides playing professional rugby, with NZ Rugby holding the license, basically so the money doesn't go missing with the corrupt officials in the Islands where the rugby side dont see it, so funding isn't really a problem. Is Moana a worthwhile exercise? Of course it fucken is! It's nice for Samoa and Tonga to finally be able to dive into professional rugby to pick players instead of making the side out of Auckland club rugby players. Have they made strides this year? Well they won 4 games this year, as opposed to 3 in their first 2 years, so yes, they have. Anyway, make what you will out if that, but that's basically how it is, and it's nice having a pacific side playing in SR as opposed to some pointless side like the Sunwolves used to be.
Great post, on the whole and make some very interesting points for those of us less in the know.
I take exception though to the opening part about people not caring. Thats simply not true.
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@MajorRage Yeah maybe I came on a bit strong in that first part so i take that back, but yeah, an example of what it has done is the development of 2 of their best players this season, Lotu Inisi and Kyren Taumofileau. Do these 2 play super rugby if Moana aren't there? Definitely not. But now that they have been playing regular high level rugby and have shone on the bigger stage, Tonga are now the benefactors of 2 kids who would be playing local club rugby or in the USA if they're lucky if it weren't for having Moana in the comp, and that is what makes Tonga and Samoa stronger internationally, having an extra 15 or so players each playing regularly in Super Rugby to go with what they already have available to them.
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Inisi brothers confirm future with Moana Pasifika – Moana Pasifika