South Auckland base for planned Pasifika Super Rugby side

A Pacific Islands Super Rugby team based in South Auckland is gaining traction.

RNZ and Reuters report that a group of former All Blacks, including two-time World Cup winner Jerome Kaino, are behind the establishment of the first professional rugby union team in Hawaii.

Kanaloa Hawaii has had its bid to join America's Major League Rugby confirmed and is now in talks with New Zealand Rugby about joining a revamped Super Rugby competition.

It would be a separate team to the one that will play in the US and would be based in South Auckland.

Kaino and fellow former All Blacks Joe Rokocoko, John Afoa, Benson Stanley, Anthony Tuitavake, and Ben Atiga are in the Kanaloa Hawaii ownership group.

All have either Samoan, Tongan, or Fijian heritage.

[Source: RNZ/Reuters]