Brave new world for Super Rugby as Pasifika teams enter fray

MELBOURNE : Super Rugby has not been the same since COVID-19 tore it apart two years ago, but Australia and New Zealand will hope two new Pasifika teams will give the southern hemisphere competition a new lease of life this season.

Moana Pasifika are based in Auckland, while Fijian Drua will be camped on the east coast of Australia for Super Rugby Pacific's inaugural season due to logistical challenges brought by the pandemic.

But the teams' rosters are laden with players with links to the Pacific island nations that have long exported talent to the world while missing out on professional pathways closer to home.

Drua, who played in Australia's now-defunct, lower-tier National Rugby Championship and won the title in 2018, will be the first on show on Friday's opening night when they travel to Sydney to play the New South Wales Waratahs.

Moana Pasifika originally had the honour of the season-opener against cross-town rivals, the Auckland Blues, but the match was postponed after a rash of COVID-19 cases.

The coronavirus and travel restrictions have plagued the competition throughout, causing South Africa to pull its teams out and Argentine side the Jaguares to fold in 2020.

Government health decrees remain a blight, with strict COVID-19 rules forcing New Zealand's six teams into a hub in the remote South Island city of Queenstown for the opening weeks.

Perth-based Western Force have also been chased out of their Western Australia home due to the state's hard-line COVID-19 policies, and will be based on the east coast of the country.

How the season plays out remains up in the air, with administrators on both sides of the Tasman Sea praying that New Zealand relaxes COVID-19 rules in time to allow free travel.

One thing for certain is