There are calls for the bidding process for a Pasifika team in Super Rugby to be scrapped and started again.
The Moana Pacifika group have been told by New Zealand Rugby they're the preferred option to join the competition in 2022, with Kanaloa Pasifika overlooked.
And there's been widespread condemnation of the entire process, citing a major conflict of interest.
And the spotlight is firmly fixed on the role of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association.
"We'll be asking whether the process has been fair to begin with and whether it needs to be scrapped and start again," Dan Leo, CEO of the Pacific Rugby Players Welfare organisation tells Newshub.
Leo understands the NZRPA was heavily involved in the set-up of Moana Pasifika, and the subsequent decision to select them as NZR's preferred partner is a major conflict of interest.
"Question marks around the involvement of the NZRPA, whose mandate is really is to advance New Zealand Rugby players, we're talking about a Pasifika team here," Leo says.
The Association's prominent role in the bidding process has upset several former All Blacks involved with Kanaloa Pasifika, who were overlooked for a spot in Super Rugby.
Joe Rokocoko, John Afoa, Anthony Tuitavake and Ben Atiga are behind that bid, and they feel compelled to speak out.
"The process hasn't been right so we pretty much want to share what we've been going through, Rokocoko tells Newshub.
"To also sit through this process and to see this whole circus - it's been really frustrating," adds Tuitavake.
Afoa has questioned if the team is a legitimate Pasifika franchise or just another model under the NZR banner, while Atiga says "enough is enough".
Kanaloa Pasifika CEO Tracy Atiga filed a formal complaint with NZR and is now going as far as to threaten legal action.
"We asked for a fair and transparent bidding process, and any bidding party has the right to challenge, if that bidding process has been breached and it obviously has on several levels," she says.
"We don't believe they should've had any involvement with that whole process, let alone the decision making process at board level as well," Ben Atiga says.
New Zealand Rugby says while they understand Kanaloa Pacifika are disappointed, they stand by the process, which they believe was both "rigorous and fair".
The Player's Association insist they had nothing to do with the bidding process, but were involved in an early feasibility study.
