Moana Pasifika coach Tana Umaga has revealed his fears for the future of rugby in the Pacific amid the impending demise of his Super Rugby franchise, the All Blacks great concerned that rugby league will take an even greater slice of the sporting pie.
Moana went down 29-14 in front of Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle on Friday night in Sydney, Umaga’s men turning a proud performance just two days after it was confirmed the team’s current owners would not support the franchise beyond this season.
Unless new financial backers can be found, the team’s five-year run in Super Rugby will cease to exist, and with it a pathway for young Pasifika players who might not have otherwise had the chance to play professional rugby.
And with the NRL making significant inroads into New Zealand, and Tonga and Samoa improving dramatically in international rugby league, Umaga is concerned that rugby might be completely usurped through the islands.
“Well if there’s nothing to compete against, then I’m sure that’s something that we’ve got to be thinking about,” Umaga told reporters in Sydney. “That’s the real risk. And so it’s gotta be, what is the answer; if it’s not us, then what? Fine if we’re not there, but then what for Samoa and Tonga?
“Rugby league’s got a great product at the moment and they’ve got a lot of money that’s been put into it, and they’re all over the islands in promoting it. Again, the Pacific islanders make up nearly 40% of all players in the NRL, similar to rugby, our people are made for the game and they love the game, and they make big numbers of it.
“But if they all go to league, then it’ll be a sad time, a sad place for where rugby should be.”
Moana now sit at 1-7 after their 14-point loss to the Waratahs, but their effort in Sydney showed that they are capable of competing, with the visitors having held the halftime lead.
And while this season hasn’t gone as Umaga would have hoped, they last year finished seventh behind inspirational captain Ardie Savea, who was due to return to the franchise next year after his Japanese sabbatical.
Moana has meanwhile been key in bridging the significant gap between club and Test rugby, Umaga said, allowing young Pasifika players to experience life as a professional. Without it, the former All Blacks captain holds concerns as to whether Samoa and Tonga can continue to feature at the Rugby World Cup, an event to which both nations have been considerable contributors.
“I s’pose that’s probably the biggest thing. We understand why we’re here; people that look like us, that come from the same backgrounds as us, that’s important to us. And when you have a professional environment that’s created for us, by us, that means a lot to us,” Umaga said.
“Those pathways, with Pacific island nations, William [Havili] here plays for us Tonga and obviously we represent Samoa, but we represent all Pasifika. But the gap where we are now currently in terms of Samoa and Tonga internationally, to where we need to get to is very big. And if we don’t have opportunities to keep bridging that gap then it’s going to be tough.
“In the last four years, Samoa just scraped into the World Cup. The previous cycle before that was Tonga. If we keep going where we’re going, we don’t want it to happen, but there is the possibility that Samoa or Tonga might not make the next cycle of the World Cup.
“But having the opportunities that Moana Pasifika offers to these young players; we’ve got some young kids out there that are playing that have played international rugby for Tonga but haven’t even played NPC rugby. And if they haven’t got us, then they’ve got to go back to club rugby.”
If new owners can’t be found for Moana, which at this stage appears unlikely, then one option for the team, or even Samoa and Tonga individually, could be to join Australia’s Super Rugby Aus competition.
Australia’s previous “third tier” National Rugby Championship brought through the Fijian Drua, who have since gone on to compete regularly, particularly at home, in Super Rugby, while the Flying Fijians have knocked off both Australia and England at Test level.
Umaga supported the alternative Super Rugby Aus option for Samoa and Tonga, which might be possible following the Australian Government’s $150 million funding package for rugby in the Pacific.
“You’re exactly right, the Drua have shown success through that pathway because of their ability to join the NRC before they went into Super Rugby,” he said. “Again, it’s just building those levels and behaviours of what professional rugby is about.
“We know our boys can play the game, they’re super talented, but the rigours of playing quality rugby every week; it’s not so much on the field our players need to learn the most, it’s everything off the field. You don’t just turn up on a Saturday and play rugby like you did; Tuesday/Thursday training for an hour-and-a-half at night. For these guys it starts tonight, tomorrow; those are learned behaviours and that’s what the difference between the elite and those that are learning to be elite.
“And so all those steps are part of how you create a quality team with quality players with those professional behaviours.”
