Talofa lava, Malo lelei’i Bula vinaka and welcome to TEIVOVOrugby – I’m Culden Kamea and this is the very first of my weekly podcasts on the Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika and other teams in the Super Rugby Pacific 2023 competition, plus Team Fijiana as they defend their Super W title in Australia this year.

I generally don’t bother watching all round one games, because the teams are not at their best and the players are usually warming to the task!

But with the Fijian Drua playing Moana Pasifika in Auckland last Saturday, of course I had to make an exception.

And wow what a game from both sides – very impressive scoring 70 points in total and @ NZ$500 a pop, generating NZ$35,000 for charity in New Zealand – so well done boys!

The game was outstanding on so many levels, especially the spirit in which it was played – as hard and physically tough as it was, the game was clean with all players showing big respect for each other.

Another outstanding aspect were the respective Captain’s calls not to kick for goal despite maybe nearly ten very kickable penalties, all turned down for good old fashion tap and charge or a kick for the 5M lineout and drive.

OK got to get this off my chest – like Black Ferns Coach, Wayne Smith who has called on World Rugby for an outright ban, I am NOT a fan of the lineout drive.

The highly respected rugby thinker – Smith, says it is simply not rugby and I could not agree more and besides it is boring and killing fan interest.

Many people aren’t aware, but last time I checked, in a typical game of rugby the ball is only in play for a tick over 24 minutes!

Yes that’s right, out of 80 minutes in a full game, the ball is dead or out of play for most of the game!

Anyway, having said that, both Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua had a couple of goes at the lineout drive and scored.

I guess they have to do it because they are mainly coached by expats and I understand that they must also do it in training to counter opponents using it more often, like the Brumbies who really have no shame executing lineout drive after lineout drive as one of their key attacking weapons – which really is killing rugby.

Maybe lineout drives can be restricted to just 5M out from the try line so it does not become a 30M boring mess of a rumble.

But I digress – back to the game; it wasn’t until the 68th minute that one of the team’s actually took a penalty shot at goal – maybe that can be another rule change – you can only kick penalties for goal after say 60 minutes.

The lead changed hands many times in an exciting and entertaining spectacle which sadly only very few Kiwi-Pasifika fans were there to see.

OK I understand Auckland has suffered some pretty horrendous weather lately and people are feeling a bit down with thousands of families impacted with very hard times ahead.

Time will tell however, I still feel deep down inside that the Pasifika communities have not bought into this Moana Pasifika team because the players are NOT genuinely from their islands – most are New Zealand-based and so the real rugby impact back in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji is negligible.

You may say I am biased and I apologise to all the hard working people behind the Moana Pasifika franchise like Sir Bryan Williams and Sir Michael Jones, and CEO Pelenato Sakalia, but I think the New Zealand Rugby Football Union should have decided on a Pasifika team based in Fiji, playing in Apia and Nukualofa with rugby academies running fulltime in each country feeding the best young players in our islands into Super Rugby.

Can you imagine a Pasifika squad of 30 players made up of the best 10 young talent out of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji playing in Super Rugby?

Can you imagine the crazy crowd if that game was played here in Fiji last Saturday?

Watch out for Super Rugby Super Round at AAMI Park in Melbourne starting tonight where the Champion Crusaders-Highlanders followed by the Rebels-Hurricanes, on Saturday Moana Pasifika-Chiefs and the Fijian Drua-Waratahs.

On Sunday the Blues-Brumbies and Western Force-Reds.

For TEIVOVOrugby, I’m Culden Kamea.

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