Super Rugby Women's Competition
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The new four-team competition will officially be launched in the next couple of weeks, but Stuff understands it will consist of three rounds, before the top two teams contest a final.
The quick-fire format is expected to be in place for the first two years, but there are plans for it to morph into an expanded trans- Ta$man competition in the near future.
Three of the four teams will be aligned to the three North Island Super Rugby franchises – the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes - while a soon-to-be launched South Island team will be based in Christchurch.
While the Blues and Chiefs are expected to play under the same names and identities as the existing men’s sides, at least initially, it’s understood the Hurricanes are considering change.Teams are in the process of finalising their squads, which will consist of 28 players and be revealed next month.
As is the case in men’s Super Rugby, players sign with New Zealand Rugby and are seconded to teams.>There is expected to be a required number of players from each team’s home region, while a player draft, much like the one in the early days of men’s Super Rugby, will also be utilised.
NZR head of women’s rugby development Cate Sexton has already made it clear it won’t be a full-time commitment for players, requiring them to leave their jobs for three months.
Instead, they will be asked to assemble for brief periods, either Thursday to Sunday or Friday to Monday.
The draw will be released after the reveal of the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific draw, which is understood to be all but finalised, with kickoff set for February 18.
The women’s competition will kickoff the following weekend, with some games likely to be double-headers alongside Super Rugby Pacific games.
However, the South Island team is likely to plan stand-alone games, potentially at smaller regional grounds. -
Still can't quite see how that SI team will work in reality unless it is simply the Cantab FPC team.
They would be asking players to group for training on say a Thursday in Chch, then play a game in say Nelson or Dunedin or Timaru. If selected on merit there should be 2 or 3 Otago women in the squad. The travel back and forth they are asking for is crazy and counter-productive to performance.
A setup like this, although welcome, will only encourage a FPC like the old NPC where the franchise teams collected the provincial players. -
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@stargazer said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
@crucial It's not better travelling from Napier (or Wairoa) to Wellington. New Plymouth to Hamilton isn't ideal, either.
Agree. That's why I think this could be detrimental if this becomes the pathway to the BFs. Players will simply congregate in 4 provincial unions (well possibly Blues and Chiefs might still get some union spread) so that they can train and perform better.
Spending 6 hours travelling to go to practice and hope for selection against someone that has travelled down the road isn't a great way to put yourself forward.
I'm not saying that it isn't possible or that there won't be some that are up for the challenge but the hurdles for some will be much higher than others.
I also assume this is non-paid? No compensation for 2 days a week off work or childcare etc?Just kinds of seems to be a case of 'be careful what you ask for'
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@bovidae said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
The Chiefs team trained in Cambridge in preparation for that game against the Blues. I think there was a player and a coach who travelled from NP, and obviously the CM players had to travel south.
And the BoP players over the hill. Apart from the Naki contingent the 'commute' is OK given the road connections.
It will definitely be the outlying provinces that are affected. Otago, Ta$man, HB, Naki and Northland the most.
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@crucial said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
@stargazer said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
@crucial It's not better travelling from Napier (or Wairoa) to Wellington. New Plymouth to Hamilton isn't ideal, either.
I also assume this is non-paid? No compensation for 2 days a week off work or childcare etc?
Also from the article:
NZR believe the semi-professional competition, as Sexton recently called it, will provide a crucial step between the Farah Palmer Cup and international rugby.
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@stargazer said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
@bovidae A name including the word Pounamu (as in 'Te Wai Pounamu') would be so much nicer. Then you have the team colour sorted, too.
The South Island women’s Super Rugby team will be governed by the Crusaders, but will have a unique name and brand identityfair enough and promising
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Question for those in the know: Is it semi-professional as in they're paid while the comp is on (like NPC), or semi-professional as in centrally contracted player will be taking part?
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@antipodean said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
Question for those in the know: Is it semi-professional as in they're paid while the comp is on (like NPC), or semi-professional as in centrally contracted player will be taking part?
Hard to tell. The NZRPA hasn't published an updated Collective agreement document that covers this new competition.
I would think that players would be centrally contracted in that they have to sign up to the RPA Collective for terms and conditions but the payment negotiated is under separate franchise contract.
The semi-pro description is that, like many NPC players, they will be paid while part of the comp. There will likely be a base, training and game attendance, travel compensation etc
The idea would be that they try and negotiate unpaid leave from any job they have and get paid by the franchise instead.
This one seems to be set up that you could hold down a job at the same time and only take a day or two off near the weekend.
Lost time due to travel could be an issue for some players unless they live near the bases.Edit: Given the quite small amounts paid to Black Ferns players I don't imagine that the payments for this comp will amount to much more than a few hundred bucks a week per player assembled with maybe a small match day payment for those selected each week.
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Former Black Ferns Sevens Head Coach and two-time NZR Coach of the Year Allan Bunting has signed on as Head Coach for the Chiefs Women’s team ahead of their maiden 2022 Super Rugby campaign.
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There is also an official article:
https://www.allblacks.com/news/green-light-for-super-rugby-aupiki/
Competition Format
Super Rugby Aupiki will kick off will run across four weekends in March, kicking off on 5/6 March.
The following two weekends will see home and away fixtures for each team before the top two meet in Final on 26 March.
The competition draw will be confirmed later this year, all matches will be broadcast on SKY.
Head Coaches selected
The head coaches who will be tasked with selecting the first Super Rugby Aupiki squads have been confirmed.
The four women’s Super Rugby Head Coaches are:
Chiefs: Allan Bunting – former Black Ferns Sevens Coach
Hurricanes: Wesley Clarke – Black Ferns Assistant Coach
Blues: Willie Walker – Auckland Farah Palmer Cup (FPC) Coach
South Island: Blair Baxter – Canterbury FPC CoachClubs will contract 28 players, with squads expected to be named in the next month. Players will assemble for one preseason match before coming together four days a week through the competition window in March.
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@bovidae said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
There was mention of a player draft last week but I hope that has been canned. You can't be expecting these players to move too far from home without adequate remuneration and support.
I wouldn't think there will be a draft. I know that last week (or week before?) Ruby Tui mentioned on Breakdown that she had received her contract. Squads will be pretty well finalised.
It may be that a pool of players are placed on an unofficial list as injury cover though.
I would expect that these initial squads won't be much different to FPC teams from the host base with extras coming from the positions where depth is required (front row, halfback, lock) where the best three players may be made up from all the area teams or if there is a clearly strong player in one position that outranks the existing.
eg the SI team will be Canterbury plus maybe a prop or two, a lock and a halfback from Ta$man and Otago. For example, I expect to see Maia Joseph there for development and cover -
@crucial This was the article I read about the possibility of a draft.
As is the case in men’s Super Rugby, players sign with New Zealand Rugby and are seconded to teams. There is expected to be a required number of players from each team’s home region, while a player draft, much like the one in the early days of men’s Super Rugby, will also be utilised.
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@bovidae ok, so when they say "draft" they mean just for those..."unwanted" is too strong a word, those on the fringe in their home unions, rather than everyone goes into a hat
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@kiwiwomble said in Super Rugby Women's Competition:
@bovidae ok, so when they say "draft" they mean just for those..."unwanted" is too strong a word, those on the fringe in their home unions, rather than everyone goes into a hat
Back in 1996 the teams could protect the majority of their preferred squad, but for the last few positions you could use the draft if required. I would imagine it would be something similar so, in theory, the best 112 players are involved.
