Moana Pasifika

Moana Pasifika is a rugby union team made up of players from various Pacific Island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands.

The team was originally created for a one-off match against the Māori All Blacks in December 2020, with the future intention of trying to join the Super Rugby competition.

On 14 April 2021, New Zealand Rugby confirmed the side had been granted a conditional licence to join the Super Rugby competition.

On 12 July 2021, the team was granted an unconditional licence, confirming them for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season.

The team played its inaugural Super Rugby match on 4 March 2022.

History
On 24 November 2020, Moana Pasifika coach Tana Umaga named a 26-man squad for the match against the Māori All Blacks on 5 December 2020. The team was made up of New Zealand-based players who were international or sevens capped by a Pacific team or identified with a Pacific region. On 5 December 2020, the team played their first match, against the Māori All Blacks at Waikato Stadium. Captained by Sydney born Samoan international Michael Alaalatoa the side lost to the Māori 28–21.

Super Rugby
Following the conclusion of the 2020 Super Rugby season, the licences for the South African Super Rugby sides; the, the , the and the , the Argentine  and the Japanese  all expired. The 2021 Super Rugby season, still affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, was played in two regionalised tournaments featuring the five New Zealand Super Rugby sides and the four Australian Super Rugby sides, plus the Western Force who had returned to the tournament having lost their licence at the end of the 2017 Super Rugby season. However, from 2022 onwards a new 12-team tournament had been mooted, and on 13 November 2020, the New Zealand Rugby Union announced Moana Pasifika, along with the Fijian Drua as its preferred partners to join the competition. Further steps were made in March 2021, when the New Zealand Rugby Union agreed to a sharing of broadcast revenue with both Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua, and this was followed later in the same month by World Rugby announcing financial, high performance and administrative support for both potential new sides, in order to boost the performances of Pacific Islands at international level, while also being able to stay local instead of heading overseas.

On 14 April 2021, both sides were granted conditional licenses to join Super Rugby in 2022 by the New Zealand Rugby Union.

On 12 July 2021, the team were granted an unconditional licence, confirming them for the 2022 Super Rugby season.

On 30 August 2021, the side was confirmed in Super Rugby for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, beginning with the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season.

Moana Pasifika will be based in South Auckland, Auckland Region, and will play their fixtures at Mt Smart Stadium until 2028. On the following day, Dynasty Sport was announced as the supplier for the team's on-field kit. Aaron Mauger was then announced as the first coach of the team on 30 September 2021.

On 15 November 2021, the schedule for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season was announced, with Moana Pasifika's inaugural match against the in Auckland.

On 2 February 2022, Sekope Kepu was named as the inaugural captain of the Moana Pasifika franchise.

Moana Pasifika played its inaugural Super Rugby game on 4 March 2022, a 12–33 loss to the. In that historic game, loose forward Solomone Funaki scored the franchise's first ever try. 3 weeks later, Moana Pasifika won its first Super Rugby game against the at Mt Smart Stadium, winning 24–19.

Current squad
The squad for the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season is:

Development squad
The following players were named in the Moana Pasifika development squad for the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season:


 * 🇳🇿 Salesi Tuifua (Prop)
 * 🇦🇺 Connor Seve (Lock)
 * 🇼🇸 Iakopo Manu (Loose forward)
 * 🇳🇿 Siaosi Nginingini (Halfback)
 * 🇹🇴 Kyren Taumoefolau (Outside back)

Coaching staff
The following coaching team was appointed for the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season:

Past players

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! colspan="10" style="background-color:#f2f2f2; cell-border:2px solid black; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; text-align: center;" |2020 Moana Pasifika squad for match vs. Māori All Blacks
 * colspan="10"|The squad for the match vs. Māori All Blacks was:
 * colspan="10"|The squad for the match vs. Māori All Blacks was:


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Props
 * Michael Alaalatoa (c)
 * Jordan Lay
 * Daniel Lienert-Brown
 * Sione Mafileo

Hookers
 * Leni Apisai
 * Samisoni Taukei'aho

Locks
 * Naitoa Ah Kuoi
 * Gerard Cowley-Tuioti
 * Samipeni Finau
 * Zane Kapeli


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 * width="30%" style="font-size: 95%;" valign="top"|

Loose forwards
 * Nasi Manu
 * Marino Mikaele-Tu'u
 * Alamanda Motuga
 * Pita Gus Sowakula

Scrum-halves
 * Folau Fakatava
 * Dwayne Polataivao

Fly-halves
 * Josh Ioane
 * Stephen Perofeta


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 * width="30%" style="font-size: 95%;" valign="top"|

Centres
 * Vince Aso
 * Leicester Fainga'anuku
 * Fetuli Paea

Wingers
 * Tomasi Alosio
 * Jone Macilai-Tori
 * Salesi Rayasi
 * Asaeli Tikoirotuma

Fullbacks
 * Etene Nanai-Seturo


 * (c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped.


 * }