New Zealand Rugby has granted conditional approval for two Pacific Island teams to join an Australia-New Zealand Super Rugby tournament beginning next year.
Moana Pasifika, a team of players of Samoan and Tongan heritage, would likely be based in South Auckland, while the Fiji Drua would be based in Suva, the Fiji capital.
They would join New Zealand’s five teams and Australia’s five teams in the proposed tournament next year.
New Zealand Rugby in November last year confirmed the teams as its preferred Pacific partners, subject to their meeting certain financial criteria.
A cash injection of about US$5 million over three years by World Rugby helped to ensure the inclusion of Pacific teams in Super Rugby for the first time.
New Zealand Rugby would still require the teams to produce business plans showing that they are financially and commercially sustainable, and that they can be competitive on the field.
Rugby Australia has also yet to signal its approval.
The announcement was made at a news conference yesterday by New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson, Moana Pasifika representatives, and former All Blacks Michael Jones and Bryan Williams.
“We are finalizing business plans as we’ve said already,” Robinson said. “We are conditional on that and obviously our friends at Rugby Australia — we have ongoing dialogue there that we will continue to participate in. It’s very constructive at the moment. We’re on the frontier of something extremely exciting for our competitions.”
Williams, who is of Samoan and Tongan heritage, was one of the first Pacific Island players to play for the All Blacks and later became president of New Zealand Rugby. Jones played one match for Samoa before transferring his allegiance to New Zealand, for whom he played 55 Tests. Both are former Samoa coaches.
Williams and Jones have long campaigned for a Pacific team in Super Rugby and could not contain their excitement at yesterday’s announcement.
“It probably should have happened 25 years ago,” Williams said. “But World Rugby needed to look after its own affairs and aspirations, and as a result, we got left out in the cold. It was hugely disappointing at the time, but here we are.”
Fiji, Samoa and Tonga hope the Pacific teams would lure home players signed to teams in Britain, Europe and Japan, but it seems unlikely that the Super Rugby teams could match the salaries paid to top Pacific players overseas.
Jones said that the inclusion of Pacific teams in Super Rugby would be received with excitement by Pacific communities.
“It will bring a lot of joy, a lot of hope and I think a sense of belief that something that has been a long-held dream and aspiration ... we’re on the cusp of that coming to fruition,” he said. “Pacific people love rugby. It’s part of their culture and who they are, and part of the fabric of their society.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB