Pasifika’s collapse to see Super Rugby go back to the future. Way back

Super Rugby celebrated it’s 30th anniversary this year, having launched as a 12-team professional competition in 1996. The competition has changed shape and size seven times over three decades, peaking with an unwieldy 18 teams a decade ago.

COVID-19 and financial strain has seen Super Rugby downsize ever since, however, and next year it is even set to go back to the size of its amateur days in the early 1990s: the Super 10.

Super Rugby Pacific is on track to become a 10-team competition in 2027 after Moana Pasifika’s owners released a statement confirming it was disbanding at the end of the 2026 season, due to it not being financially viable.

“This decision comes after extensive consideration of the financial, operational, and strategic realities facing the franchise as well as professional rugby in New Zealand. Despite the tireless dedication of players, staff, and supporters, it is no longer viable to continue the franchise at this level of competition,” the club said in a statement.

Moana Pasifika are playing the Waratahs on Friday night in Sydney.

The New Zealand-based franchise was launched in 2022, as a team to showcase talent from Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands, and with former Wallaby Sekope Kepu as captain, it was a powerful symbol for Pasifika rugby.

But the reality of survival was far tougher, and the team struggled on and off the field. It has won just 15 games in five seasons and never finished higher than third-last. Based in Auckland, where the Blues were never happy about having neighbours, the team moved homes often and struggled for crowds and revenue. When World Rugby and NZR funding was wound back, private investment was hard to find. No white knights have emerged.

As the licence holder, NZR released a statement on Wednesday saying it was aware of parties potentially interested in “exploring financially viable and sustainable plans for the future of the team” and would be willing to discuss “the club’s continued participation”.

But that is a long-shot, meaning Super Rugby Pacific bosses – and parent bodies NZR and RA – will now move quickly to settle on a new competition format for next season. There has already been extensive contingency planning done, given Moana’s financial struggles have been known for several years. When the Rebels were shuttered in 2024, there was speculation Moana could also fold at the time.

The simple solution is set to be Super Rugby Pacific moving to a 10-team competition in 2027, with five Kiwi teams, four Australian teams and the Fijian Drua.

That will open the door to full home-and-away season, with 18 rounds. Many club bosses like the idea given they currently have two byes in an awkward 16-round, 11-team competition. But it would also require the season to be slightly longer (read start earlier), and likely with a smaller top-four finals series. Broadcasters are largely interested in still getting, at least, the 83-games a year under the current deal.

In that sense, Moana’s exit will provide some security for the Western Force through to the end of the current broadcast deal, at least. The future of the Perth club is also the subject of constant scrutiny, with modest crowds and financial strain.

Australian broadcaster Stan is keen to explore the concept of re-introducing conferences, to ensure Aussie teams have a presence in the finals. And that would also set up a nice framework for the entry of Japanese clubs down the track.

But NZR would have to give its approval and conferences were not hugely popular when they were part of Super Rugby between 2016 and 2020. In 2017, the Brumbies went through to the quarter-finals as Australian conference champions but had fewer points than the Blues, the worst team in the New Zealand conference.

Given Super Rugby can’t go beyond the second last week of June, to allow for Nations Championship Tests in July, an extra round (or more) means the season would need to start in early February. That would open up the debate about the length of season for Test stars and their availability, given many play through to early December and already miss the early rounds.

Super Rugby hasn’t had 10 teams since 1995, when the Southern Hemisphere provincial competition was won by Queensland, one of two Australian entrants, along with NSW.

It also contained the top four Kiwi teams from the NPC in New Zealand, the top three South African teams from the Currie Cup, and the previous year’s Pacific Tri-Nations between Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa.

Queensland also won in 1994, beating Natal in Durban, in a game that is remembered for Tim Horan suffering a major knee injury. It was a blessing in disguise for the ARU given Horan had made a handshake deal to switch to rugby league with the North Sydney Bears the next year. But the deal was paused as Horan did rehab and when fit again the next year, rugby went professional and the star centre stayed.

Watch every match of Super Rugby Pacific live and exclusive on Stan Sport.