An electricity failure that disrupted Moana Pasifika’s match against the Highlanders last weekend and cut the final 20 minutes of the broadcast was not the franchise’s fault but it was another blow to an already struggling outfit.
Moana Pasifika are millions of dollars in debt and will lose their head coach Tana Umaga, a man who led them to several historic victories last year, to the All Blacks at the end of the season.
They are without their inspirational captain Ardie Savea (on sabbatical in Japan) and have won only one match of seven this season.
Their sole victory came in round one against the Fiji Drua in Lautoka; an excellent performance at an inhospitable venue but one they have not been able to replicate. They are last of 11 teams in Super Rugby Pacific.
North Harbour Stadium’s power issue, caused by the most comical of faults – a blown fuse in a Vector transformer – began at the end of the third quarter during last Friday’s match. It started with the shutdown of one of four light towers and big screen and continued with the loss of broadcast pictures.
It was an unprecedented incident in the 30-year history of the competition and, rightly or wrongly, reflected poorly on Super Rugby, the stadium and – through no fault of their own – Moana Pasifika. A Vector investigation found the blown fuse was not due to a power overload, broadcast equipment, stadium infrastructure or a fault in Vector's network. Rather, it appeared to be due to high electricity use over an extended period.
Bizarrely, no points were scored during the final quarter of the game, which finished in a 39-19 victory for the Highlanders.
Most viewers in New Zealand would likely have switched channels to watch the Warriors, previously unbeaten this season, lose their round four match to the Wests Tigers 32-14; a potential best-case scenario for Sky Sports but not for Super Rugby officials based in Australia wary about handing anything to the NRL.
While the issue was accepted with humour at the time by Moana Pasifika’s players and staff, there was no getting away from the sense that Murphy’s Law is becoming increasingly influential for the club in 2026.
The sense that if something can go wrong, it will, is reflected primarily in the team’s results.
Last year, Moana Pasifika enjoyed historic victories over the Blues, Crusaders and Highlanders. This term their losses to the Hurricanes (52-10), Force (35-19), Chiefs (57-24), Blues (43-7) and Crusaders (50-21) and Highlanders have all been by decisive margins. All involved will likely be looking forward to their Easter bye weekend.
There will also be collateral damage to Sky Sports, who rely on the power supply of stadiums around New Zealand to send its pictures and audio to its many thousands of subscribers.
'Frustrating'
A veteran Sky insider told 1News the incident was “frustrating” and stressful for those working on the broadcast.
A Sky spokesperson told 1News in a statement today: "There was a significant power outage at the venue during the second half of [the] Moana Pasifika v Highlanders match. The outage affected sections of stadium lighting and power to the Sky broadcast truck. While the broadcast truck can operate for a short period on 'failover' battery power, the prolonged nature of the outage meant the truck ultimately lost power.
"Once it became clear that venue power could not be restored within a reasonable timeframe, the decision was made to complete the match under reduced lighting and without broadcast coverage. While the power failure was outside of Sky’s control, we acknowledge how frustrating this would have been for fans.
"We are proud of our sports production team for their professional response in what was a difficult situation."
There is irony that Moana Pasifika, who have struggled to find a permanent home and are limited to the games they can play in Auckland due to their licence agreement, encountered such an issue at the stadium after failing to raise the required sponsorship to take their round nine match against the Chiefs to Tonga.
The Pacific Islands are considered a higher risk for broadcasters due to potential power issues. Rather than playing in Tonga, Moana are taking their April 11 match against the Chiefs to Rotorua.
It is understood the loss of broadcast pictures created complications for Super Rugby’s “Fantasy” competition, which has a $NZ12,000 grand prize, mitigated only via game footage gathered from the two teams' high-performance staff at the stadium.
Clearly the television match official was redundant for the final quarter, but “dead ball” officials were brought onto the field to rule on potential tries.
When asked for comment, a New Zealand Rugby spokesperson pointed 1News to North Harbour Stadium’s statement about the blown fuse which included the comment: “We share people's disappointment in the disruption to last night’s match, including the loss of broadcast.”
In an update today, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, the company that oversees North Harbour Stadium, said it was "putting plans in place to upgrade equipment in the area and split the power supply between two transformers, to avoid there being a single supply point for multiple pieces of critical equipment".
Moana Pasifika could be wishing for a similar patch to re-energise their campaign.
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