Rugby Pass
Ardie Savea Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The long-awaited inclusion of the Pacific Islands in southern hemisphere franchise rugby is nearly upon us.
Moana Pasifika, representative of Samoa and Tonga, and the Fijian Drua will be included in a new professional competition featuring all 10 of the New Zealand and Australian Super Rugby clubs in 2022, and fanfare surrounding their addition is building.
Being granted conditional licences to play in next year’s tournament means both teams can begin the process of recruiting a playing and coaching staff to become competitive forces against New Zealand’s and Australia’s top sides.
Much has been made about who will make up the playing roster at each franchise, with reports emerging that the Fijian Drua already have Olympic sevens hopefuls, Fijian internationals and foreign stars with Fijian heritage lining up to play for the Suva-based team.
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Resilient Western Force: The Perth-based outfit took another significant step on their return to Australia’s top-tier by claiming a narrow 16-15 triumph over Melbourne Rebels on Friday. It was a pretty awful game but still a significant win for the Force, who have now won two matches this season. After falling to eight successive defeats in 2020, this is proving to be a much more positive season. There is enough quality in their squad to see them compete while there is evidently plenty of spirit in their squad as a late converted try from Tim Anstee helped them to edge past the Rebels.
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