The Fijian Drua concept is different to Kanaloa Pasifika.

Fiji Rugby Union Chief Executive John O’Connor made the comments after being asked by FBC Sports on Kanaloa’s intention to help the Drua if the Fijian side needs it.

Hawaii based Kanaloa Pasifika’s bid for a Super Rugby license was turned down but its Chief Executive Tracy Atiga says they stand ready to divert investment funds into the Drua, whose bid was successful.

Tracy Atiga

Speaking to ABC’s Pacific Beat, Atiga says she is aware that both the Drua and Moana Pasifika, are in a race against time to raise the necessary funds ahead of a June 30th deadline, and as a result Kanaloa have not given up hope of securing a Super Rugby license for themselves.

If they can’t secure a license, Atiga says Kanaloa have a contingency plan to divert their investors towards the Fijian Drua.

“We’ve actually offered our investor group forward to the Drua and the reason being it is a stand-alone entity much similar to what Kanaloa had proposed, the Drua are looking for private investors to stand up their organization I appreciate they having a really tough time, at the end of the day if it comes down to money we are here for them”.

However, FRU CEO O’Connor says they’re close to sealing the deal with private investors and there’s no need to explore the Kanaloa option.

“Ever since we’ve received our conditional license we’ve had no discussions with Kanaloa basically we are focused on meeting the financial diligence that’s required by New Zealand and we are very confident that we’ll achieve it much earlier than the deadline requires”.

O’Connor adds the Kanaloa concept is different because they’ll have players from the Pacific but the Drua is made up of Fijian players.