Moana Pasifika's place in next year's Super Rugby competition has been confirmed.
In April, NZ Rugby granted the franchise a conditional license to join a revamped competition, alongside fellow newcomers Fijian Drua.
On Monday, the NZR board made the decision to upgrade the licence's status to unconditional, satisfied the new club had met the criteria to become a fully fledged franchise, and opening the door for them to begin recruiting players, coaches and sponsors.
NZR is still "working closely" with Fiji Drua, whose progress has been hindered by the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the Pacific Island nation.
"We always anticipated it would take some time to formalise the arrangements and conditions we needed to progress, but we are now in a position to move forward again," says interim Moana Pasifika chief executive Pelenato Sakalia.
"Today’s announcement will no doubt generate another wave of excitement and enthusiasm about Moana Pasifika."
Rugby Australia and NZR continue to work together toward finalising the structure for next year’s tournament, based on the inclusion of Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua in a 12-team competition.
"A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes, and it will be exciting for everyone to watch developments in the coming weeks and months," says NZR chief executive Mark Robinson.
Despite the pandemic roadblock, Fijian Drua are still "progressing well" in their path to unconditional and Fiji Rugby Union chief executive John O'Connor is confident they'll be ready to go next year.
"We are encouraged by the progress we are making toward gaining an unconditional licence to compete in next year’s competition," says O'Connor.
"COVID-19 has presented some obvious challenges, but we are confident we will be in a position to join Moana Pasifika in entering the final phase of planning for 2022 and beyond."
Former Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger is expected to become the team's first head coach, with Filo Tiatia as his assistant.
Mauger was part of their coaching team for the game against Māori All Blacks last year, when they were edged 28-21 in Hamilton.
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