Two new Pacific Islands potential super rugby teams, the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika, will be supported by World Rugby from 2022.

World Rugby made the announcement on Wednesday, 24 March, and confirmed a financial and administrative package for the teams.

The franchises will be supported by their respective unions and private equity.

However, the teams will need to satisfy the financial criteria to be able to enter the Super Rugby competition.

If successful, this means talented rugby players from Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa will be provided with a genuine pathway from grassroots to test rugby, and the region will also be able to retain talented players and connect to local domestic competitions.

Tonga Rugby Union Chief Executive Peter Harding welcomed the news for Tonga rugby.

“The investment is key to nourishing the pathways to the 'Ikale Tahi.”

“The combination of this investment and the commitment of World Rugby to assist the player development pathways for the new Moana Pasifika franchise shows that the partnership between the three organisations will make a healthy contribution toward ensuring that rugby in the Pacific is strong and stable into the future.”

World Rugby General Manager, High Performance Peter Horne said the biggest missing element of a pathway for the islands has always been a professional team and a professional competition where they can control the development and growth of their players.

“The gap between local competition and international test rugby is quite great, so there are stepping stones for a budding player that’s maybe 16 now and has an aspiration to play for the Manu Samoa or the Flying Fijians or the ‘Ikale Tahi.”

“[That player] can stay closer to home, participate in one of the best competitions in the world and ultimately build and grow to ensure the strength of their national programmes.”

He added that one of our major strategies is to improve the competitiveness of the international game, and to do that we need to have competitive Rugby World Cups.

“The whole idea is that by creating more competitive Pacific Islands we’ll have a better result with Fiji, Samoa and Tonga at Rugby World Cup.”

Pacific Islanders make up around a quarter of all professional rugby players globally.