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New Zealand Rugby has taken over immediate player salary payments for Moana Pasifika after the franchise was placed into liquidation, marking a dramatic intervention to keep the Pacific Super Rugby side afloat. The national body is now directly covering wages while the franchise's financial wreckage gets sorted, a bailout that raises fundamental questions about the viability of the Super Rugby Pacific project's flagship diversity play.
Liquidation means creditors, unpaid bills, and the kind of back-office chaos that doesn't square with professional sport at this level. NZR's move is both rescue mission and damage control — keeping players paid so the competition doesn't lose a team mid-season, but also exposing how precarious the franchise model has become when a cornerstone outfit can't keep the lights on. Whether this is temporary life support or the beginning of a full restructure remains the question no one at NZR is answering yet.