Super Rugby bosses excited by prospect of more women’s teams
New Zealand’s Super Rugby bosses are excited about the prospect of being involved in a semi-professional women’s competition in 2022.
But while NZ Rugby has committed to getting such a competition going next year, it is yet to confirm whether it will involve the existing men’s franchises running women’s teams.
Former Black Fern Anna Richards was Blues assistant coach for last Saturday’s Eden Park exhibition match against the Chiefs and said the best thing about the match was that the franchise had been ‘‘hugely welcoming’’.
‘‘Some of the standards that the Blues have are about inclusivity and diversity and I know [chief executive] Andrew Hore is a real proponent of a women’s team.
‘‘He really pushed this, and it was him and [Chiefs chief executive Michael Collins] who basically got the game up and running and were really behind it.
‘‘I know it was just a one-off, but it was the start of something and I know the Blues are very, very keen to have a women’s team and have a franchise competition.’’
Hore said this week the Blues were eager to be involved, regardless of whether NZR decides to go with the existing franchises or to put the process out to tender.
‘‘I was sort of involved in the first training session with the Crusaders way back when, and we were using a university gym then, so where women’s professional rugby is potentially starting is more advanced than where the men’s game started and that’s a good thing.
‘‘It wasn’t easy then, and it won’t be easy now to start another league, but if you get it started, and you are prepared to go on that journey, and the expectation is that we’re building something, I think that’s the key, and that’s sort of the attitude that we took going into this game.
‘‘As an organisation, we saw this as an opportunity to define what our existence and our purpose is and if the opportunity is afforded to us to play in some form of competition moving forward, then we’ll grab that opportunity as well and try to make it work.’’
Collins was confident adding women’s teams would open new doors for franchises that have been operating almost exclusively in men’s rugby since their establishment in 1996.
‘‘Our experience is limited to the past six weeks with the Waitomo Chiefs women’s team and Waitomo Fuel jumped on board straight away and have been wrapped with their partnership with the women’s team.
‘‘I guess we haven’t done a lot of work in that space yet, but the anecdotal feedback we’ve had has been really, really positive from our commercial partners and especially Waitomo Fuels.’’
NZR is hoping to announce details of the new elite women’s competition by July, when the 2021 Farah Palmer Cup season begins, and Super Rugby bosses are mindful of the need to work closely with provincial unions.
A four-team competition featuring teams aligned to the three North Island Super Rugby franchises, the Blues, Chiefs, and Hurricanes, as well as a new one representing the South Island as a whole, appears the most likely outcome, as signalled by NZR chief executive Mark Robinson in March.
The Sunday Star-Times was directed to NZ Rugby after asking to speak to Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge this week, but Highlanders boss Roger Clark confirmed the two franchises had been in discussions.
‘‘I can say that we’ve talked about this with the Crusaders, we’ve talked about it with representatives of women rugby in our region, and we’ve also talked about it with New Zealand Rugby, because obviously we’re all supportive of having a professional women’s league. Then it’s a matter of making sure that if we can only put this many teams at this stage, because of the number of players, that we still provide a pathway for everybody in the South Island to be able to play at that level.’’
That leaves the Hurricanes, whose chief executive Avan Lee said: ‘‘We are certainly interested in taking part and will continue to work with NZR and the other Super clubs. We believe that this competition would be great for women’s rugby and the Hurricanes.’’
‘‘I know it was just a one-off, but it was the start of something and I know the Blues are very, very keen to have a women’s team and have a franchise competition.’’ Anna Richards