Should Super Rugby Pacific force the six New Zealand-based teams into one collective hub, Moana Pasifika will be able to deal with adversity better than their competition, coach Aaron Mauger believes.
Due to the risk of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Super Rugby's organisers are understood to be working on a solution that sees all six New Zealand teams - the five traditional sides and newcomers Moana Pasifika - based in one location to play the tournament.
The challenge of packing a suitcase and relocating to ensure a competition can go ahead isn't new in the modern age of sport during COVID, as seen by the All Blacks' three-month end-of-year tour in 2021.
Southland has been mooted as a possible venue for New Zealand-based sides, split between Queenstown and Invercargill, while the teams could also relocate to Australia for the foreseeable future.
Regardless of where his side are sent though, Mauger is confident that the adversity will only galvanise Moana Pasifika, whose squad is now only days out from their first match as a collective.
"I think we'll do this better than anyone else, to be fair," Mauger says. "Just based on our connections as a family, it's what this team's all about.
"It'll have its challenges, but we'll embrace those challenges and get on and make a new home wherever that is and look forward to the competition.
"We've had about a million challenges already just to get to this point, so this is just another one for us."
And while the impact of Omicron and COVID are wreaking havoc on day-to-day life for New Zealanders, Mauger has no issue in seeing the positives in each situation.
"I think the first thing is just to take a breath really, focus on what you can be grateful for," he adds. "We're still here, we get to play our first game this week, on Friday night.
"We still get to play our first year in this competition, so those are all the things we can look forward to, they're the things in our control around how we prepare for those things to make sure we're ready.
"The motivation's really high, we're not overly distracted by all the other stuff going on to be fair."
On Friday night, the team will play their first pre-season encounter, facing the Chiefs at Mt Smart Stadium in a friendly that also doubles as a fundraiser for those affected by the recent Tongan tsunami disaster.
And despite weeks on the training paddock, Mauger adds that it won't be until Friday that he and Moana Pasifika have any true understanding of where they're at before beginning Super Rugby Pacific against the Blues on February 18.
"It's not really until you start testing yourself against other teams that have been at this level for a long time, so it'd be good to get a bit of a measure of where we're at.
"In terms of our intensity, our speed, our execution of things we've put in place - and we've done all that on three-and-a-half weeks [training].
"So [I'm] really proud of the guys for what they've been able to build in that short space of time.
"Now it's just about going to test it against a good Chiefs side. We know they'll be physical, they're always physical, the Chiefs, they play with a lot of flair.
"So it'll be a good challenge first up, but we're going to give it our best crack."
