Super Rugby Aupiki Preview

By Benji Crossley

1) Out of the shadows

2022 was a remarkable year for the women’s game in New Zealand but as we head into 2023 a good chunk of the players that exploded into our everyday consciousness will not take part in Super Rugby Aupiki. The Sevens players have gone back to their training base in Mount Maunganui, Kendra Cocksedge has hung up the boots and Ruby Tui will spend the Aupiki season working for Sky.

That gives a whole group of players, bloody good players, a chance to create their own profiles. Who will step up to fill the gaps in the 12 and 13 jerseys left by Fitzpatrick and Fluhler? Who joins Ayesha Leti-I’iga on the wings? Who fills the massive boots left empty by Cocksedge. The five weeks of Aupiki will give players like Grace Brooker, Ari Bayler and Kendra Reynolds, amongst others, a real chance to let the New Zealand rugby public know who they are and build confidence that the defence of Nancy is in safe hands heading toward 2025.

2) The 9 jersey

but the question of who steps up to fill the void left by the retirement of Kendra Cocksedge will be an intriguing part of the Aupiki season. Ari Bayler at the Blues and Arihana Maurino-Tauhinu of Chiefs Manawa were the other halfbacks in the World Cup squad and they’ll have the inside running. But can anyone replace the wider game that Cocksedge could bring with her kicking from hand and goal kicking? Can anyone cause a whole nation to scream at the TV not to tap it late in a World Cup final?

3) Style of play

Wayne Smith and his coaching team decided early on that the only way the Black Ferns could be successful in 2022 was by running the ball from everywhere. That was option a, b and c. In the World Cup final they came up against an England team whose option a, b and c was to play for lineout opportunities. Two contrasting styles with the Black Ferns style proving superior in the end. Will the Aupiki teams double down and play Black Ferns footy or will we see some variation in styles across the teams?

It would be great for the development of our players, and the competition, if we saw a contrast in styles across the teams. Matatu, drawing so heavily on the Canterbury FPC side, are likely to look pretty similar to the red and blacks while we might see the Blues and Chiefs Manawa playing the kind of rugby likely to leave hearts in mouths.

Five games isn’t enough for teams (more on that shortly), to really develop a style or to build different ways of playing, but hopefully was can see some variety to really showcase the talent we have.

4) Will the people show up

Aupiki in 2022 was destroyed by COVID, games cancelled, players isolating and games played behind closed doors. This year, the crowds can come out. Whether they will, and what the best model is to encourage that, is the big question. Do people remember how much fun those five weeks in October and November were? Do people remember the joy they got from those players? If they do, then there is a good chance you’ll get people (especially those from outside of Auckland), along to games.

The next questions are around whether double headers work better than stand alone games, and are you better taking these games to the provinces? Week one sees the Poua host Chiefs Manawa in Levin as a stand-alone fixture. Saturday afternoon footy at a regional ground where the kids can run around and five or six thousand people can create a great atmosphere sounds ideal to me. But the facilities at Levin Domain are not up the standards that professional players should be able to demand. The other game this weekend is the alternate model, Matatu host the Blues at Forsyth Barr as part of a double header with the Highlanders. Will people show up for both games? Does the fact the facilities are better, and you have potential for a bigger crowd, make up for the fact that 5,000 in a 15,000 seat stadium might not look great? It’s a genuinely difficult question and probably one we need a couple of seasons of evidence to decide. If it was me, I’d take Aupiki to the provinces as stand alone games but I can certainly see the other argument.

5) What’s next?

It’s hard not to look at this Aupiki season and see a wasted opportunity. Off the back of the momentum built by the Black Ferns, a season that only lasts five weeks and only gives each team one or two home games seems like a massive anti-climax. There is credence in the argument that Aupiki is best developed slowly, bedding in the systems and making sure it works before going bigger, but as soon as this season is over we need to see the vision of what comes next.

Presumably a link up with the Super Rugby W teams out of Australia is on the cards. If not, an expansion in New Zealand to five teams and a move to a double round robin so you can at least get to ten fixtures for everyone. Maybe it’s both of those of things, but we need to understand what the plan is, and soon.

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