Great to have an afternoon game. Hopefully a decent crowd turns up. Rotorua people complain they don't get to see the Chiefs play. Well, here is your chance.
8 changes.
Moana Pasifika
Match thread
Chiefs
@Bovidae said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
Jimmy Tupou to finally debut. He is amongst a lot of former Chiefs players.
Jimmy Tupou and Augustine Pulu still playing Super Rugby in 2026. Far out. Just need Julian Savea and Ngani Laumape to come back to make it look more like a Moana Pasifika Presidents XV. They're all selfish the lot of them. They're taking up spots that they shouldn't be taking which is doing more harm to Pacific rugby than good. Piss off the lot of them.
@African-Monkey Tupou isn't as old as you think (33). He's younger than Eklund and Tuʻungafasi. Same age as Ahki.
@Bovidae said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
@African-Monkey Tupou isn't as old as you think (33). He's younger than Eklund and Tuʻungafasi. Same age as Ahki.
He's 33 and has never been anything more than a fringe Super Rugby player. Moana can do better than pick guys like him. He got dropped from one of the worst Blues sides ever in 2018 and released.
Ofa's a 68 test AB who's also still our best prop, Ahki is just filling a gap because Rieko wen't overseas, and Eklund is there until Oudenryn is in next season, and has made way for the younger James Mullan anyway (Eklund is still probably better than Mullan btw).
@African-Monkey said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
@Bovidae said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
Jimmy Tupou to finally debut. He is amongst a lot of former Chiefs players.
Jimmy Tupou and Augustine Pulu still playing Super Rugby in 2026. Far out. Just need Julian Savea and Ngani Laumape to come back to make it look more like a Moana Pasifika Presidents XV. They're all selfish the lot of them. They're taking up spots that they shouldn't be taking which is doing more harm to Pacific rugby than good. Piss off the lot of them.
This is unhinged, squads need older experienced players, especially a squad like MP which has a high player turnover.
@Nepia said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
@African-Monkey said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
@Bovidae said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
Jimmy Tupou to finally debut. He is amongst a lot of former Chiefs players.
Jimmy Tupou and Augustine Pulu still playing Super Rugby in 2026. Far out. Just need Julian Savea and Ngani Laumape to come back to make it look more like a Moana Pasifika Presidents XV. They're all selfish the lot of them. They're taking up spots that they shouldn't be taking which is doing more harm to Pacific rugby than good. Piss off the lot of them.
This is unhinged, squads need older experienced players, especially a squad like MP which has a high player turnover.
Yeah, bit over the top from me word wise, but my point stands, they offer bugger all and are holding back younger guys. For example, what benefit is Augustine Pulu doing being there instead of Joel Lam? And they're still losing more often than not with these blokes anyway.
@Bovidae said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
Some of those younger players are injured (Lam, Ofa, Craig).
They might be injured, but I'd wager they've received less red cards this year.
@Nepia said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
@African-Monkey said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
@Bovidae said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
Jimmy Tupou to finally debut. He is amongst a lot of former Chiefs players.
Jimmy Tupou and Augustine Pulu still playing Super Rugby in 2026. Far out. Just need Julian Savea and Ngani Laumape to come back to make it look more like a Moana Pasifika Presidents XV. They're all selfish the lot of them. They're taking up spots that they shouldn't be taking which is doing more harm to Pacific rugby than good. Piss off the lot of them.
This is unhinged, squads need older experienced players, especially a squad like MP which has a high player turnover.
Squads need useful older experienced players.
What value is Pulu providing? How to get yourself red carded and suspended in 10 minutes?
Northland need to make their first up tackles otherwise they'll have a big score run up against them.
Ratima is having a really poor season
On his way to getting dropped from the ABs unless he can seriously pick up his play
@taniwharugby said in Moana Pasifika v Chiefs:
This Tupaea guy is handy
Unfortunately his surname isn't Barrett