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Moana Pasifika just want to play a game of footy.
For the fourth time in five rounds of Super Rugby Pacific, it was starting to look as though the newest team in the competition were again going to have their fixture pulled out from underneath them. In round five, everyscheduled match in New Zealand was cancelled due to Covid-19.
It was the latest chapter in an increasingly frustrating story for the side who have been desperate to build on the momentum from their solid debut outing against the Crusaders a fortnight ago.
That frustration quickly turned to excitement, however, when it was confirmed the Chiefs would be able to field a team - despite having 17 unavailable for selection - and they would play their postponed round two fixture on Saturday night. Not only would they be playing, but it would be their first regular season game on their home turf at Mt Smart Stadium.
"None of the boys like hearing that they're not playing this weekend, but a lot of us realise this is the world we live in now," Moana Pasifika centre Levi Aumua said. "Covid can disrupt our comp week by week, so having a game this weekend really put a smile on our faces."
While the team are new to the competition this season and probably expected something of a settling-in period, it would have been hard to imagine they would have only played one game through the opening four rounds – particularly having relocated to the Queenstown bubble away from their families in a bid to at least lessen Covid-19's impact on the competition.
Moana Pasifika will play their second game of the season this weekend. Photo / Photosport
For coach Aaron Mauger, it was important that they had a good support system around their programme and to accept that there will be situations where there is nothing the team can do.
"A big part of it has been just being able to take a breath and have a bit of a laugh," Mauger said. "The amount of times I've had phone calls from our CEO or manager saying things have changed and we've had to adapt our schedule, often it's myself who has to deliver the bad news.
"It was actually really nice the other day to deliver two lots of good news rather than a good news and a bad news story. The two pieces of good news were we were going to be playing at home and we were going to be leaving that night. The room erupted; I think that was the biggest cheer of the whole time down in Queenstown."
Like every team, Moana Pasifika have had to deal with the virus sweeping through their team, being the first forced to address it, which led to the postponement of their first two games of the season.
Since then Mauger said management had been keeping an eye on those players who were infected in order to see how they have bounced back and whether there have been any lingering effects.
"It's a pretty carefully managed process, the returning to training, and there are stages and guidelines put in place by the medics across the franchises and NZR just to make sure the players are returning safely," he said.
"Some guys were fine straight away, and some guys took a little bit longer to adapt. One of our players – one of the fittest guys in the team – found it really hard the first day back, and he took four or five days to get back to some decent running intensity. Then we had some other guys who felt OK day one, so it's hit everybody a little bit differently. The main thing is we're all healthy at the moment here and we're ready to roll."
Mauger was able to name a largely unchanged squad from their round three loss to the Crusaders for this weekend, though there have been changes in the playmaking roles with Mauger rotating his combinations to start Jonathan Taumateine and Christian Leali'ifano, with Ere Enari and Lincoln McClutchie to come off the bench.
It was something he had planned to do given the team are still working to find what works best for them and it might not be the last 9-10 combination you see from the side this season.
"All those men have been outstanding and have had a massive impact on the growth of our game and the quality of our training. I don't really see it being a big thing who wears the starting jersey and who comes off the bench. I thought both Ere and Lincoln were really sharp against the Crusaders in that first game, and JT and Christian both made an impact especially with ball in hand later in the game.
"They've both been outstanding and they deserve their start. It was always a plan to get them started in the first couple of rounds. We're not fully settled; we don't actually know at the moment because only one combination has had a crack at a start. It's a healthy competition and I think that will sort itself out later on through the year around who starts more often than not."
Moana Pasifika v Chiefs Mt Smart Stadium, Saturday March 19, 7:05pm.
Moana Pasifika: William Havili, Tima Fainga'anuku, Levi Aumua, Danny Toala, Neria Foma'i, Christian Leali'ifano, Jonathan Taumateine, Henry Time-Stowers, Solomone Funaki, Sione Tu'ipulotu, Samuel Slade, Mike McKee, Sekope Kepu (c), Luteru Tolai, Ezekiel Lindenmuth.
Reserves: Samiuela Moli, Taukiha'amea Koloamatagi, Joe Apikotoa, Alex McRobbie, Josh Kaifa, Ereatara Enari, Lincoln McClutchie, Fine Inisi.
