Moana Pasifika person unveiled their eighth signing for Super Rugby Pacific, recruiting 35-year-old erstwhile Wallabies prop Sekope Kepu to supply acquisition successful the beforehand row.
Kepu won 110 caps for the Wallabies earlier joining London Irish successful the UK, but helium returned to his autochthonal New Zealand this twelvemonth and was portion of the Counties Manukau squad for the NPC.
Kepu volition articulation different erstwhile Wallaby, Christian Leali'ifano, astatine the caller Super Rugby franchise arsenic the 2nd of up to 8 players that Moana Pasifika tin motion adjacent though they are not eligible for Tonga. Samoa, the Cook Islands oregon Fiji.
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Moana Pasifika are releasing their subordinate signings successful batches each day, and person truthful acold named Kepu, Leali'ifano, Ereatara Enari, Neria Foma'i, Solomone Funaki, Sione Tu'ipulotu, Tomasi Alosio and Henry Taefu arsenic portion of their inaugural squad for 2022.
About 30 of the 38-strong Moana Pasifika squad person already been locked in, with contracts offered to the remaining players.
However, existent All Blacks skipper Ardie Savea won't beryllium portion of the squad, with Moana Pasifika manager Aaron Mauger telling SENZ connected Monday that Savea's imaginable engagement would not hap until aboriginal successful his career.
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Savea is disconnected declaration this twelvemonth but seems apt to re-sign with the Hurricanes.
"Ardie is simply a large illustration of a feline who understands his quality to power and truly service the Pasifika community," Mauger said.
"You look astatine Ardie's maturation implicit the past mates of years, and yet I've admired that astatine a distance... speaking successful his autochthonal tongue, per-game and post-game, and connecting the Pasifika community.
"That's a bully illustration of wherever we privation to beryllium successful this space.
"Rugby is simply a large conveyance for us, it's truly important. But, it's not really the main happening for Moana Pasifika.
"This is truly astir a assemblage journey, and we privation to instrumentality each of our radical with us.
"Unfortunately Ardie won't beryllium portion of that, not successful this archetypal signifier anyway, but who knows down the track."
Mauger besides revealed that Moana Pasifika were yet to implicit their coaching and aesculapian teams, portion the inability of the Auckland-based teams to instrumentality portion successful this year's NPC had analyzable the recruitment picture.
However, Mauger said high-performing provincial unions specified arsenic Hawke's Bay – wherever Enari and Funaki person been successful beardown signifier – had fixed Moana Pasifika plentifulness to enactment with.
Stirring Kapa o Pango challenge
"It has been a spot of a challenge, the recruitment," Mauger told SENZ.
"But the unit we've had connected committee person trawled done tons of footage.
"We're truly excited by the squad... that's the quality of the NPC.
"A batch of our Pasifika players are based successful New Zealand and are plying their commercialized successful bully provinces, with bully enactment structures astir them.
"A batch of them conscionable request an opportunity. The quality is that we tin supply that accidental done Moana Pasifika.
"Some of these guys volition beryllium chartless to many, but the imaginable and the quality these guys person to deed the crushed moving and truly marque an interaction connected Super Rugby is massive."
This nonfiction was primitively published connected stuff.co.nz and is reproduced with permission
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