In a move reminiscent of the Australian government's recent play to win the hearts and minds of rugby league fans in Papua New Guinea, Rugby Australia is backing a plan for Samoan and Tongan teams to join the latest iteration of the Super Rugby AUS competition.
A potential package from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is believed to be around the $150 million mark, according to CODE Sports, which would see two new Pacific sides join the four long-existing Super Rugby Australian franchises for their post-season tournament.
Set to join the competition in 2028, the Papua New Guinea Chiefs were announced as the newest Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) franchise in December 2024 following the Australian government's decision to invest $600 million into the club's infrastructure and development.
The latest rugby union proposal coincides with news regarding Moana Pasifika, an Auckland-based Polynesian Super Rugby Pacific franchise, whose owners have decided to end their financial support of the team.
Pasifika Medical Association — the financial backers of Moana Pasifika — are still looking to sell its stake to interested commercial parties willing to pay out costs of at least $7 million a year to fund the team's annual salaries and travel expenses.
One set of investors, according to reports, have walked away from taking over Moana Pasifika while another is asking to inspect the books to check whether the team is worthy of investment.
The latest government investment out of Canberra would expressly be for separate Polynesian teams out of the two Pacific island nations — and not for the current Moana Pasifika franchise which is run solely through a licence from New Zealand Rugby — to only play in the Australian competition during the Wallabies' Rugby Championship Test calendar around September and October.
Rugby Australia chief executive, Phil Waugh, has backed the government plan which would retain a professional pathway for players in the Pacific.
"The conversations that are occurring are between (both) the islands' Prime Ministers and the Australian Prime Minister, as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade office," Waugh, the former Australian Test great, said.
"I think that there's conversations that are broader than just rugby but ultimately get supported by what's their first love and passion on (each) island, which is rugby (union), and working with the Australian government to support the broader welfare and security interests of both the islands and the Australian government."
The Super Rugby AUS rescue package could salvage the jobs of up to 60 current Moana Pasifika's players on top of creating more positions for untapped, semi-professional players residing in Samoa and Tonga.
Waugh was adamant two new sides could follow the path of the Fijian Drua, who initially joined in Rugby Australia's former National Rugby Championship (NRC) competition in 2017, before being admitted under a new-look Super Rugby format following the exit of South African and Argentinean sides in 2022.
He felt the proposed additions could better connect with Polynesian fans not exposed to the professional level of the sport, similar to the success of Fijian Drua playing their home fixtures in Suva.
"You look at the success of the Fijian Drua - the investment that has come through into Moana Pasifika over the last period of time," Waugh said.
"We are obviously working with the islands to solve for an 'on-island' Tonga and Samoa team potentially in the future into Super Rugby AUS.
"Rugby is an international game; rugby is dominant in the Pacific Islands - in Tonga, Fiji and Samoa, and the Cook Islands continues to grow.
"So, I think rather than it being sombre because of the news that broke this past week, it's more actually a celebration of the progress that rugby - and professional rugby - has made in the islands."
Samoa and Tonga have hosted just two collective Super Rugby Pacific fixtures across Moana Pasifika's five seasons.
A proposal for the second consecutive year to play a Moana Pasifika game in Tonga collapsed just weeks ahead of the scheduled date last month when the game's operators failed to come up with the required $600,000 to install high-tech cameras and equipment, with the fixture instead relocated to Rotorua in New Zealand.
