![\"Ardie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ardie-saveas-black-eye-suffered-while-playing-for-kobe-steel-FZPUMLKWCZBETD6BILSH4CQFMA.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLoose forward Miracle Fai\u2019ilagi is Ardie Savea\u2019s replacement as Moana Pasifika\u2019s captain for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n
Fai\u2019ilagi, 26, a standout for the team last year, will fill in for Savea while the All Blacks vice-captain is on a one-season sabbatical at Kobe Steelers in Japan. It is Savea’s second stint at Kobe.<\/p>\n
Fai\u2019ilagi, who was born in Samoa and is the first Super Rugby player to be signed straight from Samoan club rugby, helped Moana Pasifika to a seventh-placed finish in Super Rugby Pacific last year; just outside the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The strong ball carrier and defender excelled in his team\u2019s notable victories over the Crusaders, Highlanders, Blues and Hurricanes. Fai\u2019ilagi scored a hat-trick of tries in the latter victory.<\/p>\n
The franchise today published a social media post showing Fai’ilagi addressing the squad after his announcement. In it he says: “I’m really grateful to be given the responsibility of leading the new wave. You guys know I lead through my actions and that’s what I’m gonna bring.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ardie Savea’s black eye, suffered while playing for Kobe Steelers recently. (Source: Ardie Savea TikTok)<\/p>\n
The new Super Rugby season begins on February 13 with the Highlanders, minus the injured Dylan Pledger<\/a>, hosting the defending champion Crusaders in Dunedin.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Savea, who was sinbinned for dissent in his first game back for Kobe, has suffered an eye injury in a recent match.<\/p>\n The 32-year-old, who was consistently inspirational for Moana Pasifika<\/a> last year and scooped all the major New Zealand rugby prizes<\/a>, posted evidence of his black eye on a recent social media video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loose forward Miracle Fai\u2019ilagi is Ardie Savea\u2019s replacement as Moana Pasifika\u2019s captain for the upcoming season. Fai\u2019ilagi, 26,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[51801,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-694002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-moana-pasifika","9":"tag-rugby","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115890011795156717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}