Super Rugby

The franchise announced on Friday the Better Blues Company Limited would purchase the 40 percent holding in the Blues which had previously been held by New Zealand Rugby after they bought back the shareholding from the previous private owners three years ago.

The remaining 60 percent has been shared since 2013 between the provincial unions of Auckland, Northland and North Harbour.

The draw has been revised due to new Covid-19 trans-Tasman travel restrictions.

The five New Zealand-based teams, and the six Australian-based teams will play their first eight games in their respective countries.

Moana Pasifika will be based in New Zealand and the Fijian Drua are based in Australia.

Moana Pasifika's game against the Blues takes place at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday February 18; the Drua's game against the Waratahs follows that game on the same evening at a venue to be confirmed.

Non-quarantine travel, which was set to be opened for New Zealanders in Australia on 17 January, would be pushed back until the end of February, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said at a media conference on Tuesday.

The length of stay in MIQ facilities would be temporarily increased from a week to 10 days.

The new Super Rugby Pacific competition will feature five teams each from New Zealand and Australia and two sides representing the Pacific Islands -- Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua.

The new competition was thrown into confusion after the New Zealand government revealed a border opening plan that made it impossible for the trans-Tasman competition to proceed as planned.

However, Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos told reporters on Friday that Super Rugby clubs on both sides of the Tasman were committed to getting contingency plans over the line, and were close to doing so.

“What I can say is that our teams and the New Zealand teams are working furiously to get a revised draw,” Marinos said.

The Hamilton-based franchise announced on Friday their women's team would be known as the Manawa, following an extensive process to develop an appropriate name for their debut in the inaugural competition.

Chiefs women's coach Allan Bunting led the process of developing the new team identity alongside men’s coach Clayton McMillan, New Zealand Rugby Māori Cultural Advisor Luke Crawford, Chiefs jersey designer Dave Burke, the franchise’s commercial manager Kate Rawnsley and a number of the women's players.

While players were gradually revealed over the last six weeks, Monday marked another major milestone for Moana Pasifika as their first ever squad was confirmed, with former Highlanders and Crusaders outside back Tima Fainga'anuku completing the 38-man roster.

A Pacific Island franchise in Super Rugby has been a long time coming but having only been granted an unconditional licence in July, Moana Pasifika have worked around the clock to build the team from scratch.

The All Blacks playmaker has been the spark lighting up the Chiefs' attack, but he will spend the first half of next year in Japanese rugby with Tokyo Sungoliath.

The 26-year-old is almost irreplaceable after returning to top form last season as the Chiefs made the Super Rugby Aotearoa final in Clayton McMillan's first year as coach.

The draw for the 15-week regular season, announced on Monday, gives teams a total of 14 matches. These are made up of 11 round-robin fixtures plus the introduction of three additional rivalry matches which will see each team play a home and away series against three other teams.

The top eight teams will join a play-off series in the first week of June. The final is scheduled for 18 June.

New Zealand Rugby General Manager Professional Rugby and Performance Chris Lendrum said the draw was easy to understand and a level playing field for the teams involved.

The Auckland-based franchise will join an expanded competition next year alongside the Fijian Drua and five teams each from New Zealand and Australia.

Head coach Aaron Mauger has been working from his Dunedin home since Tāmaki Makaurau went into lockdown in August, focused on player and staff recruitment and planning the team's first pre-season campaign.

"It's nice, every time we have a management meeting each week there seems to be another person popping on, so that group's growing and they're really critical to helping build our programme."

Harris helped coach the Fiji Sevens programme, he was part of the Tokyo gold-medal winning squad and was heavily involved with Fiji Rugby's 15s programme when the Drua won the NRC in 2018.

Jackson has been involved with the Flying Fijians as an assistant coach on an ongoing basis and was part of the coaching team for the mid-year tests against the All Blacks.

Interim CEO Brian Thorburn said the duo were no strangers to the Fiji Rugby vuvale and have been around various squads and teams in a number of capacities.