This wasn’t how things were supposed to go for Moana Pasifika.

Having gone through their most significant off-season to date, relocated to Auckland’s North Shore, and signed a former World Rugby player of the year, it was hoped Moana could start 2025 with a roar to add the Pacific element Super Rugby has needed for so long.

Instead, Moana are winless from their opening three matches, two of them away in Australia, and sit second-from-bottom. Only the Blues have, so far, fared worse than Moana, and could relegate Tana Umaga’s side to the bottom of the ladder with victory over the Hurricanes on Saturday.

However, it can’t be disputed that Moana has made progress to start the new season.

Admittedly, having played one game more than most of their opposition, Moana’s 109 points scored are the most by any in the competition. That is offset, though, by the same applying to their 132 conceded.

Two of their three defeats have been by two points or fewer, while Friday’s loss to the Highlanders saw Moana narrow a 21-point gap down to two, before ultimately running out of time.

At the front of Moana’s charge is captain Ardie Savea, who kick-started Moana’s comeback at North Harbour Stadium by beating two defenders to race away and score from a counter-attack in the second half, in conjunction with a trademark shift on defence.

The 31-year-old has made no secret of his desire to represent his Samoan heritage by moving north from Wellington to Moana. But, with a Japanese sabbatical waiting in 2026, the All Blacks vice-captain knows the clock is ticking if he’s going to be the man to lead Moana to a first finals appearance this year.

And now having shown his side can compete with Super Rugby’s established elite, he said results are needed first and foremost.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to win games,” said Savea. “As much as there were great moments for our team, we still lost.

“For this team, we want to win games, we’ve got to find ways to do that. We don’t help ourselves, we’ve got to be better.

“But there were moments there that the boys fronted up and nailed the next task. We were down by 21, and we got back in the game.

“Those are the moments where the boys showed ticker. We’ve got to stop putting ourselves in those positions.

Moana Pasifika winger Solomon Alaimalo on the charge against the Highlanders. Photo / Photosport

“Whether that’s the mental game, whether that’s nailing our next moment, we’ve got to find answers, quickly. That’s something we’ve got to improve on.”

Off the field, Savea said he’s already seeing the benefits of joining Moana.

Even after losing the title of World Rugby player of the year to South African Pieter-Steph du Toit, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in Aotearoa who wouldn’t side in Savea’s favour.

As he has explained multiple times, moving from the Hurricanes to Moana was about so much more than just results for Savea.

Instead, connecting with his heritage, and inspiring a new generation of Pasifika rugby players – Tongan as well as Samoan – is one of his major ambitions.

And until that first win comes, Savea is happy to count learning more about his people among the positives of his time on the North Shore.

“We celebrate culture every day, every second in this team,” Savea said. “That’s been really beautiful, for me, being New Zealand born, to be alongside Pasifika and Pacific brothers.

“I’ve been learning a lot of things this week too, about Tonga and Samoa and being around the brothers.

“Someone asked me if I miss the Hurricanes, I said ‘what would I miss [when] I’m here with my people?‘

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do on the rugby front. We’re 0-3, that’s not something I’m proud of.

Ardie Savea of Moana Pasifika. Photo / Photosport

“I want to be better, this team wants to be better. That’s where we need to be.”

In Moana’s favour as they bid for a first win in 2025 is the fact their next fixture could play into their hands.

Next Saturday, they’ll host the Hurricanes – Savea’s old side – at North Shore Stadium.

In 2022, Moana’s maiden victory as a Super Rugby side came against the Hurricanes, albeit at their former home of Mt Smart.

Aside from missing Savea, the Hurricanes are also without Jordie Barrett, on sabbatical in Ireland, while injuries to Brett Cameron and Lucas Cashmore have left them short at first five.

But, knowing who and what his side are up against, Savea doesn’t expect anything easy next weekend.

“It’s going to be good, I’ll have a target on my head. We’ve got really close boys in that team.

“But I know when I cross that line, it’s going to be war. It’s going to be good.”

Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.