While a season of change beckons, the competition will retain several law variations trialled in recent years. The Blues won that tournament but the Canterbury Crusaders, who claimed New Zealand's domestic title last year, are favourites to win Super Rugby Pacific and give coach Scott Robertson a sixth championship in as many years. Though some private money is funding the Drua, Moana Pasifika are New Zealand Rugby's project, and two years of thrashings could put the model under strain.Īustralia is also under pressure to improve across the board after its five teams were smashed by their New Zealand counterparts in last year's one-off Super Rugby Trans-Tasman. “We've committed, both New Zealand and RA (Rugby Australia), to the next two years and it's really just that - to assess and allow the tournament to settle and establish,” RA boss Andy Marinos said last week. With much invested in their inclusion, they are under pressure to become competitive quickly.
One thing for certain is that Drua and Moana Pasifika can expect a baptism of fire against experienced Australian and New Zealand opponents.
How the season plays out remains up in the air, with administrators on both sides of the Tasman Sea praying that New Zealand relaxes Covid-19 rules in time to allow free travel. Perth-based Western Force have also been chased out of their Western Australia home due to the state's hard-line Covid-19 policies, and will be based on the east coast of the country. Government health decrees remain a blight, with strict Covid-19 rules forcing New Zealand's six teams into a hub in the remote South Island city of Queenstown for the opening weeks. The coronavirus and travel restrictions have plagued the competition throughout, causing SA to pull its teams out and Argentine side the Jaguares to fold in 2020. Moana Pasifika originally had the honour of the season-opener against crosstown rivals, the Auckland Blues, but the match was postponed after a rash of Covid-19 cases.
Moana Pasifika are based in Auckland, while Fijian Drua will be camped on the east coast of Australia for Super Rugby Pacific's inaugural season due to logistical challenges brought by the pandemic.īut the teams' rosters are laden with players with links to the Pacific island nations that have long exported talent to the world while missing out on professional pathways closer to home.ĭrua, who played in Australia's now-defunct, lower-tier National Rugby Championship and won the title in 2018, will be the first on show on Friday's opening night when they travel to Sydney to play the New South Wales Waratahs. Super Rugby has not been the same since Covid-19 tore it apart two years ago, but Australia and New Zealand will hope two new Pasifika teams will give the southern hemisphere competition a new lease of life this season.