After two of the hardest debut seasons any rugby teams have ever faced, both Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika are entering year two of Super Rugby Pacific with eager anticipation, ready to hit the ground running in 2023 and make a real impact.
Given little preparation time and hit with almost every obstacle possible ahead of their inaugural seasons, the competition's two newest franchises were severely impacted by COVID delays and even mother nature, which contributed to both teams winning just two from 14 games and finishing the season on the last two rungs on the competition ladder.
It seemed what could go wrong did go wrong for the new franchises in 2022, with the Drua forced to relocate to Lennox Head on the far north NSW coast for over seven months to avoid any COVID mishaps, before flooding rains saw them pushed out of their facilities and relocated for several weeks.
Circumstances were even more dire for Moana. Locked in a hotel for their debut game due to a COVID outbreak, four of their matches were postponed with the team playing six games in just 21-days while 11 players outside of the original 38-player squad were brought in to help supplement the roster - it resulted in some players meeting teammates just hours before running onto the field together.
But it's a different story for both teams as they head into their second seasons. With a full preseason under their belts, the lessons and experience from the year before, fully established squads and training facilities -- including a newly unveiled high-performance centre for the Drua in Nadi -- both teams are aiming big in 2023.
For Moana, who are based in Auckland and play out of Mt Smart Stadium, resilience and adaptation have become key components to their philosophy -- Auckland's recent floods forced them out of their facilities temporarily -- but looking back on the many setbacks of 2022 coach Aaron Mauger can have a laugh at the circumstances as confidence builds within his team as they prepare for a much smoother ride in 2023.
"We had a joke around just a few weeks ago, what are we going to do with all these long weeks? We're going to have normal weeks to prepare for games," Mauger told ESPN. "I think eight of our 14 games last year were in short weeks, so it's nice to have a full week of preparation, especially going into the Drua this weekend.
"There's a lot of excitement in our team, and there's a lot more belief and confidence in our ability to not only compete but win more games of footy and ultimately that's what we're here to do; we're not here to make up the numbers, we're here to compete, to challenge the best in the competition.
"We're far from the polished product, but we've certainly gone a long way towards growing the areas that we needed to increase from our first year and [we are] in a much better and healthier position to attack the competition this year."
In Fiji, preparations have gone according to plan. The Drua moved into their new base of operations, which include training facilities and head office in October, and they have finally established themselves a home base as they look to build on last year's growth. According to Drua CEO Mark Evans, Fiji has never seen anything like it before with players, the front office and rugby staff all together in one place.
"There's never been anything like it on the island previously," Evans told ESPN. "But most importantly everybody is now in the same place, all the front office and all the player departments and all the players, the medical staff, it's all here and we're only two minutes away from the airport, so in that sense it's a real boost and it makes communication easier.
"We've still got a little way to go, we're still off in terms of actual playing pitches to train on, we're traveling a bit too much around Nadi for our liking but we're fixing that as well. It's a big upgrade."
The Drua have already made an impression over the preseason, holding the Rebels scoreless in steamy and wet conditions in Fiji - something oppositions will almost certainly come across when playing in Nadi and Lautoka this year -- before they pipped the Force in their final trial match. Flashing new talent and displaying the patience they lacked last year, the Drua have stepped up their game after a smooth preseason.
"I never put too much stock on trial games to be quite honest, I think they're more important function is to give players a bit of a hit-out," Evans said. "But having training days on the island and having the extraordinary sort of conditions beyond anyone's control has obviously been helpful because that was a tough old year, I think the guys and the staff showed a lot of resilience in really difficult circumstances.
"Obviously this year has been far more settled and there's quite a large number of squad who have a proper pr-season for the first time. Last year, there was such a scramble to get the squad together, I think things were compromised even before the relocation.
"But it's been relatively smooth this time, we've had a fair time together, so I think we're reasonably confident we'll be a stronger unit this year than we were last year."
Retaining much of their squads, both expansion teams are determined to build on what was established last year, while also bringing in new and exciting talent including Pasifika's Miracle Fai'ilagi, who was spotted during a World Rugby Pacific Islands combine session.
For Mauger, the new season brings excitement and the opportunity to pursue some goals that last year's circumstances made incredibly difficult.
"I'm really excited by our squad," Mauger told ESPN. "The growth in our team has just been astronomical through this last preseason and through another year of footy through NPC and international rugby for our Manu Samoa players, so I'm really excited.
"I definitely believe we're going to have more impact and win more games of footy and obviously if we do that well week in, week out, then ideally we'll be playing finals footy when it comes to that time of the year.
"It's a first full preseason for a lot of these guys and you just see them maturing not just physically but also mentally and emotionally, they're so much better prepared all round for the demands of rugby at this level and that's a credit to their attitude, the board and the whole staff and organisation to really set ourselves up for this season.
"We're pretty happy with where we're at at the moment, we know there's still a lot of growth there, but we're in a spot that we're pretty proud of at the moment."
While Evans didn't have a numerical pass mark for the Drua's season, he is looking for progress and improvement from last year's two victories.
Mauger, however, has set Moana's sights on the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs.
"In terms of performance being more consistent it's winning more games of rugby and ultimately in terms of the outcome goal that looks like us playing finals footy," Mauger told ESPN. "So that's what we're aspiring to be, come finals footy that that we're in the mix and anything beyond that is possible from there. We know there's a lot of work to do and that drives a lot of the motivation.
"When you strip it back week by week, and you prepare and perform each week, that is going to be critical to determining that outcome."