The Moana Pasifika DHL Super Rugby Pacific squad continue to isolate in their Queenstown hotel after seven players were confirmed by Ministry of Health today as positive COVID-19 cases.
No team is better at setting itself a goal and achieving it, and after missing out on a double-title season last year, the Crusaders will be looking to set the record straight in 2022.
DHL Super Rugby Pacific and Sky Super Rugby Aupiki players will be dotting down for Tonga for the opening 10 rounds of the season with New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and Rugby Australia (RA) teaming up with their respective broadcast partners Sky and Stan Sport/Nine, to donate $500 per try for the New Zealand Red Cross Pacific Tsunami Appeal.
The Chiefs will be back with a vengeance in 2022. Having been pipped at the post by the Crusaders in Super Rugby Aotearoa and falling short in the Trans-Tasman edition, they’ll be determined to right some wrongs. With Clayton McMillan remaining as head coach and Warren Gatland confirmed as Director of Rugby at the Chiefs, they’re expected to be as dangerous as ever.
Sighs of relief might have been excused for the Blues as league convert Roger Tuivasa-Sheck revealed positive signs in his first rugby outing in the 28-21 come-from-behind win over the Hurricanes in Wellington on Sunday.
Flanker Dalton Papalii's meteoric rise on the New Zealand rugby scene continued on Saturday when he was named Blues captain for the Super Rugby Pacific season.
Moana Pasifika will make a long-awaited debut in Super Rugby Pacific in 2022 with aspirations high but the reality is the demands of the competition are going to weigh heavy on their season especially against their New Zealand opponents.
Covid-19 hasn't provided many teams with an advantage, but the Highlanders can look at the Super Rugby Pacific bubble arrangement in Queenstown as something that has fallen in their favour during the early rounds of the competition.