Hastings halfback Folau Fakatava has a lot to ponder after playing in Moana Pasifika's first-ever match. Photo / Photosport
Hastings halfback Folau Fakatava has a lot to ponder after playing in Moana Pasifika's first-ever match. Photo / Photosport
Magpies halfback Folau Fakatava will likely have to make a massive call at some point in the next year after his 2021 Highlanders contract expires.
But former Magpie Aayden Clarke, who is chief executive of Pacific Rugby Players, is just happy the 20-year-old Tongan will have a choice to makeat all.
Fakatava was one of the New Zealand-based rugby stars chosen to select the Moana Pasifika team in their first-ever fixture against the Māori All Blacks in Hamilton last weekend.
While that game was a one-off exhibition (albeit carrying the intensity of a test match), Clarke thinks it will be a crucial step towards the team's aim of competing in Super Rugby in 2022.
He said getting Moana Pasifika on the field made everything much more real.
"The hard work for 2022 and Super Rugby is still ongoing, but it was good to put a bit of a stake in the ground and show everyone what it possibly could look like," Clarke said.
Former Magpie pivot Aayden Clarke heads up Pacific Rugby Players from his office in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor
The inaugural Moana Pasifika squad was made up of Tongan, Samoan and Fijian players almost entirely contracted to New Zealand Rugby.
"That was all steered by the closed borders," Clarke said, noting the eventual makeup of the prospective Super side would probably be quite different.
But with Fakatava's Highlanders contract expiring after the 2021 Super Rugby season, they might just have him in the No 9 jersey again.
"He's exactly the type of player that will be looking at this type of team," Clarke said.
Fakatava is set to spend his third straight Super season in Dunedin largely warming the bench behind All Black Aaron Smith, despite starring for the Magpies in the Mitre 10 Cup.
Clarke said Moana Pasifika's presence would mean New Zealand Rugby need to be proactive with the youngster and his future, because it would create another option for him: "An option to stay in New Zealand, play Super Rugby, and play for Tonga. It's going to be a very interesting process for a lot of players."
Folau Fakatava, right, was a superstar at halfback in the Magpies' Championship-winning campaign. Photo / Paul Taylor
Moana Pasifika's goal is to help enable the success of the national teams of the islands by providing a professional club pathway for their players.
As it stands, New Zealand Rugby have stringent restrictions on players whose eligibility has been captured by other countries playing for their Super Rugby franchises.
This means for a player to represent their island of birth or heritage, they have little choice but to head to Europe to play high-level club rugby.
Clarke said a year is not long to get a high-performance team like Moana Pasifika off the ground as a full-time entity.
