Moana Pasifika pride themselves on being more than a rugby team and doing things differently. So what does it look like when they launch a new jersey? Thomas Airey went along to find out.

Super Rugby kit launches can be drab affairs. Players do a little catwalk and hands-on-hips hero pose for a couple of cameras, and a smattering of sponsors sit and applaud.

But Tuesday evening’s launch of Moana Pasifika’s new away jersey was anything but, and not just because of the jersey’s striking sunny orange hue.

Held at Lilyworld Café, behind the Colin Kay Stand at their home of Rarotonga (Mount Smart) Stadium, this event felt more like a family reunion. There were heartfelt speeches and cultural performances by siva afi (fire dance) group Polynesian Flames and Cook Islands dance troupe Anuanua.

Young kids played minigolf in the back, the older ones got stuck into some table tennis, and the entire squad was on site mixing with family, friends and fans alike.

And I really mean family – one of the fire dancers was director of rugby Leasiosiofa’asisina Kevin Senio’s daughter Grace and towards the end of the event, the whole crowd sang Happy Birthday for the newly 5-year-old son of player and MC for the day Ray Niuia.

It might be why Karl and Lynette Nickel of Titirangi, Auckland (pictured above) are newly signed-up club members for 2023 – for the team that represents them and their heritage.

“With these guys, they’re approachable,” Karl, who grew up in Sinamoga, Sāmoa, says – taking a quick break from having his new jersey signed by the team. “If I see these guys on the street I wouldn’t hesitate to say hi.”

Lynette’s roots are in Fagaloa, Sāmoa. “I’m a child whose parents emigrated here in the ’50s, so to see rugby get to this stage where we’ve got our own team, is a really nice thing to see, it’s progression,” she says.

Moana Pasifika winger Tima Fainga’anuku is from the Tongan villages of Tongoleleka (Ha’apai), Tufuvai (‘Eua), Taunga (Vava’u) & Niuatoputapu. The 25-year-old, who moved to New Zealand as a toddler, says being part of Moana Pasifika means more than playing the game. “We’re only a small piece to this puzzle, there’s a bigger picture than what’s happening now.”

Lecturer at the School of Sport and Recreation at Auckland University of Technology, Lefaoali’i Dr Dion Enari says the club stands for the empowerment of a people across many different Pacific nations. He’s also related to the team – his nephew Ereatara Enari plays halfback for Moana Pasifika, while one of his cousins is a cultural advisor.

Enari, who has a PhD in Fa’a Sāmoa (the Sāmoan way) from Bond University in Australia, says rugby is just the medium and the effects that come from the project are far greater.

“They’re not athletes of Sāmoan descent or athletes of Tongan descent, they’re Sāmoans or Tongans that happen to be athletes. Acknowledging that framing and acknowledging that difference, I think Moana does that quite well.”

Moana Pasifika joined the New Zealand and Australian teams for the 2022 season of the rebranded Super Rugby Pacific competition, along with the Fiji Rugby Union’s franchise Drua.

With Fiji having their own vehicle, Moana Pasifika works closely with the Tonga Rugby Union and Lakapi Sāmoa to help boost their national programmes and let players represent their countries while playing professionally closer to home.

New club member Michael Tufuga of South Auckland, who has Sāmoan roots in Asau and Tongan in Nuku’alofa, brought his family, including two young daughters. For him, seeing the community come together behind the team was special, particularly for his girls. “Having that example, those role models to look up to, that’s a big thing for us.”

Lefaoali’i says Moana Pasifika transcends borders – just like the recent buzz around Toa Sāmoa’s performance at the Rugby League World Cup.

“Pacific people from around the world who are not familiar with the game of rugby support Moana, because it is a team that draws upon their cultural ancestry, it’s a team that’s for Pacific people by Pacific people.”

That means family and faith are at the centre – two uniting factors across Pacific cultures. Trainings start with lotu (prayer), and the team will gather for pese (song) when they need to raise their energy levels. “These are all core parts of who they are,” Lefaoali’i says.

“And you can’t underestimate the power of that. It makes the players feel more like they belong to the team, and it makes the fans and their family feel more like they belong to the team, and the team belongs to them.”

Fainga’anuku says unlike other teams where players have to leave their culture at the door, no one can add to Moana Pasifika unless they are being themselves.

As much as he has loved seeing his teammates develop as professional rugby players, he says seeing them dive into their culture off the field has been equally rewarding.

Timoci Tavatavanawai, a winger from the villages of Naikawaga, Namara and Tailevu, is the only Fijian in a squad of Sāmoans, Tongans, Niueans, Tokelauans, and Māori from the Cook Islands and Aotearoa. (He jokes that really, everyone else is Fijian too. And as it happens, midfielder Levi Aumua actually does have roots in Tailevu, as well as Afega & Safa’atoa Lefaga in Sāmoa.)

“Some of the boys, they’re really proud islanders, but they don’t know much of their culture,” Tavatavanawai says. “When they come into the environment they learn more of it.

“It’s a bonus for them. They get to play professional footy and the other thing they gain is their mother tongue, getting back to their homeland.”

Much of the squad will literally get back to their homeland next April when Moana Pasifika play their first ever game in the islands against the Queensland Reds at Apia Park, Sāmoa.

First they have their season opener against Fijian Drua on February 25 at Rarotonga Stadium.