The team captains pose for a photograph with the trophy at the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific Season Launch. Photo: Dave Rowland
Analysis - For the first time in a long time, Super Rugby went all out on a season launch. Auckland played its part, turning on a stunning day for the captains of the 12 sides to pose with the competition's trophy on the waterfront, but things turned a little more serious once things moved inside for interviews.
That was because, in another instance of something not seen for quite a while, the Melbourne Rebels were the main attraction for media - but they were certainly wishing they weren't. There are grave fears over the future of the side, with the first big story of the year from across the ditch following on from an absolutely dire 2023 for Rugby Australia. Captain Rob Leota put on a brave face when asked about the side's future.
"It's a tough situation," said the Melbourne-born loose forward.
"I think for us, obviously we have people that we trust working away on it in the background. The message from them is to get ready for round one and keep training hard, to control what we can."
When asked if he was confident the Rebels will last the whole season, Leota had a one word answer: "Yep".
Rob Leota of the Rebels in action. Photo: Albert Perez
It's hard not to feel sorry for the Rebels, given how up against it they were from the beginning in a city obsessed with Australian Rules Football and home to an extremely successful NRL side. New RA CEO Phil Waugh was unsurprisingly quizzed about the situation and unsurprisingly played a straight bat:
"The focus is the delivery of the '24 season…if you think about the focus of two different streams, one is how do we deliver '24 with as little disruption as possible and the other is what does '25 and beyond look like."
That, plus the inescapable fresh feeling of this season made for an intriguing narrative leading into next weekend's opening round. Whether they like it or not, the Rebels' woes are at least giving Super Rugby some much needed off field talking points, something that it has been in severe need of when compared to the NRL or really any other professional sports league in the world.
They can't always be good news stories and don't have to be either, which is something that may come more out of the woodwork with the establishment of the Super Rugby commission headed for now by Kevin Molloy.
"I wouldn't call it a cloud," he said when asked about the Rebels' situation.
"I think it's a reality we have to deal with. We've got a 12 team competition for this season, and we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out for '25 … will we have 12 teams at the end of this season? 100 percent, absolutely."
So not the most reassuring news for the Rebels long term, but the main thing is that Molloy is even there at all. He, or whoever ends up in the job, must be aware of their role as the potential main character of the competition during the week. It will include being a villain, a bearer of bad news and most importantly, available to talk pretty much whenever.
Molloy has already presumably overseen the soft rebrand of Super Rugby Pacific, showcased in a new promo video which certainly conveyed the Pacific element. Yes, you can certainly make a claim that it's about time given just how many Pasifika players have gone through the competition's ranks, but this marketing direction certainly feels like the right, unique fit.
As for the players, it was mostly about how well preseason had been going and what goals they had for 2024. Some are obviously higher than others, with the Crusaders and Chiefs looking like they'd be intensely disappointed if they didn't make the final again, while Moana Pasifika would be happy with a few wins and the Rebels just want to still exist.
All have massive campaigns, not only is the silverware on the line but reality is this is the start of four month-long All Black and Wallaby trial - and it starts next weekend.
Each New Zealand Super Rugby Pacific team will be previewed in the lead up to the opening weekend, tomorrow we look at defending champions the Crusaders.