Holmes out to repay Manawa for Aupiki lifeline
When Black Ferns fullback Renee Holmes rang Chiefs Manawa coach Crystal Kaua to try to secure a contract back up north for the 2024 season, there were none available.
A few months on, Holmes will be looking to pay back the coach in the best style possible in today’s Super Rugby Aupiki decider against the Blues at Eden Park.
After all, the 24-year-old goalkicker sure knows how to get the business done in big games. Her last outing on Eden Park was that dramatic World Cup final win over England in November 2022, while in last year’s Aupiki final she virtually single-handedly snatched the silverware from Kaua’s Manawa with her 23-point haul in Matatū’s stunning fightback at Waikato Stadium.
Having headed south on an approach from Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge after missing out on a contract with the Chiefs for the maiden edition of Aupiki in 2022, Holmes was going to be back in Hamilton this year regardless, with nephews and nieces (three at the start of the season, and now five) to take care of.
“Things at home just made it impossible for me to head back down south,” she reflected this week.
“I loved that team, loved everything it stands for. So it really broke my heart not returning down there. But I just needed to accept that I had to make that call, because there actually was no other option for me than stay here in Hamilton.”
But there were no guarantees Holmes would actually be able to continue her Super footy from there, with the 16-test contracted Black Fern facing the prospect of being out in the cold ahead of the next international season.
“It was one of the biggest calls of my life, to Crystal Kaua. I actually asked her if she had a spot for me here,” Holmes revealed.
“She actually told me she’d have to get back to me, she had sent out all her contracts. She said, ‘I’ll definitely try, but right now I’m not too sure’.
“So I’m real grateful that they opened their doors up for me.”
Now comes the time to repay the faith, and help inspire the Manawa, the hottest of favourites going into the competition, out of the hole they have fallen into the past fortnight with back-to-back defeats.
Since they and the Blues were confirmed as the finalists with two rounds to spare, the unbeaten Chiefs have fallen to a 40-26 home defeat to the Auckland side, before still being able to earn hosting rights for the final with a bonus-point win against Matatū in Christchurch, only to be tipped up 22-20.
“We’ve had some really good reflection,” Holmes says.
“In all honesty, it’s actually pretty good what’s happened to us over the past couple of weeks. We’ve been able to prep a whole lot better for this final.
“Especially having a loss against the
Blues, because the feeling after that game, man, that just kind of fuelled the fire, and all of us know we don’t want to feel like that this weekend.
“The last two games, it’s been individual, uncharacteristic errors, it’s not actually the way we’re playing [that’s been the issue] ... this weekend’s not going to be like that, we’re not going to give anything to anybody, so I’m really, really excited, and the energy in this group is unreal.”
But with the pain of last year’s final defeat also having the potential to bubble into the memory, cool heads are also needed, something Holmes knows all too well from first-hand experience.
She points to her big early errors in the Black Ferns’ World Cup opener against Australia, where the hosts found themselves behind 17-0 before coming back to win 41-17.
Then there were of course the nailbiting semifinal and final triumphs, and of course last year’s Aupiki final, where her Matatū
were behind 19-0 before coming back and pulling off their 33-31 boilover.
Not even a regular goalkicker going into the World Cup, she says it was Wayne
Smith bringing in Dan Carter that “really changed me dramatically as a player and a person, around dealing with pressure, and different processes”, and which sees her kicking tee still to this day display the words “calm” and “clear” for her to soak in in the heat of the action.
Now it just remains to be seen how many shots Holmes gets to line up today, in a game the Manawa will at least surely arrive at on time. On their last trip up State Highway One, for their 17-10 round-two win over the Blues at Bell Park in Pakuranga, they were plagued by crazy traffic delays.
“It was just hectic, the motorway was chocka, there was one lane open only, we ended up going off-roading, and our hour and a half bus trip ended up just about four hours, and we got there 20 minutes before kickoff and were straight into boots,” Holmes recalls.
The team had learnt its lesson and last night were staying four minutes away from Eden Park “because that was horrible”.
Anything to make this rocky road to redemption that much smoother.