In a major blow to the regional Super Rugby Pacific club tournament, the Moana Pasifika franchise has announced that it will wind up its operations following the conclusion of the current 2026 campaign.
In a statement, the franchise said the “financial, operational, and strategic realities facing the franchise” and New Zealand at large made continuation impossible.
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The team is based in New Zealand but represents the Pacific Islands, and joined Super Rugby in the 2022 season after its creation, drawing primarily from Samoan and Tongan players.
Maintaining those contracts in the face of richer domestic and international teams has been a struggle, and the team managed only 13 wins over its first four years, with its best performance over a single season being a seventh-placed finish in 2025 (it is currently bottom of the table with only one win after eight games of the 2026 season).
In New Zealand, the team has struggled to maintain a permanent home, having utilized several venues around the Auckland area, as well as in Samoa and Tonga (for promotional purposes), with the lack of a regional rugby union backing the side naturally limiting its ability to cement a permanent home, especially in a city such as Auckland where the Blues franchise already plays.
Throughout its short existence, Moana Pasifika has been assisted by grants and external help in an effort to ensure the project’s viability.
This included a £600,000 ($812,000) annual funding from World Rugby across its first three years, as well as support from the NZ Rugby national body.
The sheer lack of population in areas such as Tonga and Samoa, the biggest of the Pacific markets (which together still only boast around 300,000), meant that strong TV rights revenues to back the franchise were never a possibility, regardless of support, which put Moana Pasifika at a disadvantage when compared to teams in major urban centers across Australia and New Zealand.
The Pasifika Medical Association Group, minority shareholders in the team, acquired the majority of Moana Pasifika in 2024, but soon after, the firm lost a lucrative contract with the New Zealand government, which almost immediately endangered the future of the franchise.
Despite the announcement, there may yet be hope for the future of the team.
In its own statement, NZ Rugby said: “We are aware there may be parties exploring financially viable and sustainable plans for the future of the team. NZR is open to engaging with those parties to discuss the club's continued participation in Super Rugby Pacific."
Without Moana Pasifika, Super Rugby will now go down to 10 teams, the second loss in recent years after the Melbourne Rebels franchise was disbanded in 2024.
