Three-and-a-half weeks ago, Abraham Pole marked his Super Rugby Pacific debut by scoring a try for the Crusaders in their 33-12 victory over Moana Pasifika at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.
Now the 20-year-old loosehead prop has jumped the fence and is primed to make his first appearance for Moana Pasifika against the Blues at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on Tuesday.
It’s a groundbreaking feat for Pole, the non-contracted Super Rugby player who will play for two different franchises in the same season.
Few, if any, of his predecessors have ever done that in the history of the competition, and, according to Moana Pasifika head coach Aaron Mauger, Pole’s unusual mid-season transfer is a reflection of the Covid uncertainty Super Rugby Pacific franchises currently face.
“As far as I know, yeah,” Mauger said when asked if New Zealand Rugby [NZR] has enabled Kiwi teams to pick non-contracted players, like Pole, despite them having already played for other teams this season.
“I think the old rule, as soon as you played, you were unavailable, but I think with the current conditions that we’re in, we want the best players playing around the country.
“I think common sense has prevailed from an [NZR] perspective, just a bit more lenient on those rules.”
After having trained with the Crusaders as an injury replacement player over the course of pre-season, Pole went on to play twice for the Christchurch-based franchise, coming off the bench in his former side’s loss to the Chiefs little more than a fortnight ago.
During his time at the Crusaders, Pole earned high praise from assistant coach Jason Ryan, who labelled the Otago front rower as a “phenomenal” pick-up by the franchise.
“He’s been outstanding. His growth has been quite phenomenal. We hooked him out of Otago, did a little bit of homework on him. He’s gone from strength to strength,” Ryan said of Pole last month.
“I’ve got no doubt he’ll play Super Rugby this year. If it’s not for us, it might be for someone else. Obviously he’s in for us as injury cover and that sort of thing with a bit of depth but he’s unreal, going well.”
Playing Super Rugby Pacific both for the Crusaders and someone else is exactly what Pole will do in the first-ever instalment of Auckland’s cross-town derby match in a rare mid-week fixture.
