Ten days after it started New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aupiki was over.
Officials and planners are now assessing what it achieved and what remains to be done. For many the answer to the second question is: an awful lot.
The tournament had been dreamed up long before the Black Ferns’ fateful 2021 tour of Europe took place. From the start critics queried the small number of competing teams, four, and the scope of the enterprise.
Then Omicron came calling. The published schedule had to be pared down, so the last match (Chiefs Manama overwhelmed Blues 35-0) took the place of a proper final. This was only Blues’ second match. Hurricanes Poua had to call off their opening match against them after players tested positive and had to isolate.
You could claim that the pandemic hit New Zealand harder than any of the leading rugby nations, though Australia, Canada and the USA will surely disagree. The trouble is, the World Cup is taking place in Aotearoa this autumn, and the Black Ferns are desperate to retain their crown.
After the final match Alan Bunting, head coach of the winning team, said he felt as though the competition was only just beginning.
Was it all the fault of Covid-19?
Many (mostly women’s) voices shout No!
Why did the Black Ferns suffer a two-year break in test matches when the All Blacks certainly didn’t? NZR stands accused of neglecting the women’s sector, the result being the gulf in current playing standards between Europe and Aotearoa.
Why had the Black Ferns’ Sevens squad enjoyed contracts for a decade when their 15s sisters hadn’t?
The cynical view would be that supporting the 7s squad meant a smaller outlay for the national union (far fewer players) plus the prestige of winning major trophies like Olympic medals.
Within the tournament itself some observers were concerned at the quality of the play. Despite an adjusted format (see below), handling and set-pieces fell below par, penalties multiplied as discipline lapsed, the intensity of games fell away towards the end, defences grew less competitive.
But players had to operate out of bubbles; mothers, of whom there were several including the Black Ferns captain, Les Elder, were separated from their children for three weeks.
Aroha Savage, captain of the Blues and another mum, wondered whether player welfare had been jeopardised in the rush to get the tournament staged.
At its most extreme, concern centres on whether there are enough players coming through of the quality needed. For the rest of the rugby world looking on from afar, this must be the most startling admission.
Playing Regulations
Innovative variations in playing regulations were introduced: matches consisted of 2 x 35-minute halves; half-time was extended to a full quarter-hour; rolling substitutions were permitted.
The shortened halves mirrored the adjustments made last year to the Allianz Premier 15s league in England; the half-time interval seems like a movable feast anyway; the effect of rolling subs could only lower the intensity each player would feel when faced with proper test match conditions.
Future prospects
The Black Ferns have the Pac-4 to look forward to (Pac = Pacific), bringing them up against Australia, Canada and USA. This is a foretaste of the global WXV tournament that awaits in 2023. But current playing standards mean that only the Maple Leafs will provide the Ferns with the sort of challenge they desperately seek.
Of course next year’s Super Aupiki will, we hope, be staged in its full finery, with several embellishments possible, but that will be too late for the RWC.
A quite separate matter is due more promptly: the review into the state of NZ women’s rugby, the traumatic results against England and France, and the worrying issues involving Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate and head coach Glenn Moore, should see the light of day next week.
