Super Rugby Aupiki

Super Rugby Aupiki is a professional women's rugby union national club competition in New Zealand. Its inaugural season commenced on 10 March 2022. It is a steppingstone between the Farah Palmer Cup and the Black Ferns. Aupiki translates as ‘the ascent to the upper most realm’.[1][2][3][4]

Super Rugby Aupiki
Current season, competition or edition:
2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season
SportRugby union
Founded2021 (2021)
Inaugural season2022
No. of teams4
CountryNew Zealand
Most recent
champion(s)		Chiefs Manawa
(2022)
TV partner(s)Sky
Related
competitions		Super W
Farah Palmer Cup
Official websiteOfficial website

Format

Initially the four teams were supposed to have three regular season matches with one home and away game, and one Super Round fixture. The top two teams at the end of the three rounds would contest the final.[5][6][7] However, the competition was reformatted as a round robin fixture because of the impact of COVID-19. All the squads were strongly affected with player isolations and COVID-19 cases. The inaugural champion would be crowned based on their competition points after the final round.[8]

History

The Chiefs Manawa won the inaugural title of the 2022 Super Rugby Aupiki season. They defeated the Blues Women 35–0 in the final round of the competition.[9][10][11][12]

Teams
Location of Super Rugby Aupiki teams

There are four teams that will be competing over a four-week period in March. The three teams based in the north will be aligned with their Super Rugby franchises, namely the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes. The South Island team although governed by the Crusaders, will encompass both the Crusaders and the Highlanders regions.[13][14] On 12 October, the combined Crusaders and Highlanders rugby side was named as Matatū.[15]

Team Coach City Stadium Capacity First season
Blues Willie Walker Auckland, Auckland Region Eden Park 50,000 2022
Chiefs Allan Bunting Hamilton, Waikato FMG Stadium Waikato 25,800 2022
Hurricanes Wesley Clarke Wellington, Wellington Region Sky Stadium 34,500 2022
Matatū Blair Baxter Christchurch, Canterbury Orangetheory Stadium 18,600 2022

Players

All four sides will contract 28-players for the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki season.[16] All players will be paid for participating within the tournament, with all players being on professional or semi-professional contracts.[14]

Television

Matches in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition will be shown by Sky Sport in New Zealand.[16]

See also

References
  1. "Green light for Super Rugby Aupiki". allblacks.com. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  2. "Green light for Super Rugby Aupiki". superrugby.co.nz. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  3. "Super Rugby Aupiki: New Zealand Rugby announces new four-team women's competition". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  4. "Sky is 100% behind Super Rugby Aupiki - Sky". www.sky.co.nz. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  5. "Super Rugby Aupiki draw released for inaugural 2022 season". www.rugbypass.com. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  6. "Sky Super Rugby Aupiki set to light up rugby landscape in March". superrugby.co.nz. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  7. "New Super Rugby Aupiki competition to feature a Super Round". Stuff. 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  8. "Sky Super Rugby Aupiki update". superrugby.co.nz. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. Chapman, Grant (2022-03-20). "Super Rugby Aupiki: Chiefs Manawa dominate Blues to stay unbeaten, claim inaugural championship". Newshub. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  10. "Chiefs Manawa crowned Sky Super Rugby Aupiki champs". superrugby.co.nz. 2022-03-20. Retrieved 2022-03-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. Reive, Christopher (2022-03-20). "Super Rugby Aupiki: Chiefs storm away to claim inaugural title". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2022-03-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. Pearson, Joseph (2022-03-20). "Chiefs Manawa overwhelm gallant Blues in decider to win first Super Rugby Aupiki title". Stuff. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  13. "Super Rugby Aupiki: New Zealand Rugby announces new four-team women's competition". NZ Herald. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  14. "Super Rugby Aupiki: Players will be paid in NZ Rugby's new elite women's competition". Stuff. 2021-10-05. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  15. "South Island Women's team named for Super Rugby Aupiki". Super Rugby NZ. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  16. "Green light for Super Rugby Aupiki". SANZAAR. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
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