Super Rugby Aupiki is a professional women's

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club competition in

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. Its inaugural season was held in March 2022. It is a stepping stone between the Farah Palmer Cup and the Black Ferns. Aupiki translates as ‘''the ascent to the upper-most realm''’.

Format

In 2022, 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. The competition was reformatted as a round robin fixture because of the impact of

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. All the squads were strongly affected with player isolations and COVID-19 cases. The inaugural champion was crowned based on their competition points after the final round. The 2023 season was played over a period of five weeks with ten games in total. Each team played three regular season matches and two play-off matches. In 2024, the competition was extended from three regular season matches and two play-off matches to a complete home and away round-robin format, followed by a

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. This meant that each of the four teams played at least six games during the regular seasonthree at home and three away. The two highest ranked teams at the end of the regular season contested the final at the home ground of the highest placed team. The new competition format resulted in a total of thirteen matches played over a seven-week period. The season fixtures for the 2025 Super Rugby Aupiki season were released on 20 November 2024, consisting of six rounds and a grand final to decide the season champions. The 2025 Super Rugby Aupiki champions will play the champions of the Australian Super Rugby competition, Super Rugby Women's, at the end of the season. This new competition is called the Super Rugby Champions Final. It will be the first edition of the new competition.

History

2022

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.

2023

Matatū were crowned 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki champions after beating Chiefs Manawa 33–31 in a hard-fought match. Matatū won their first title and also handed defending champions, Chiefs Manawa, their first-ever loss in the competition.

2024

The 2024 tournament was won by Blues Women, who defeated Chiefs Manawa 24–18 in the final in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, earning them their first Super Rugby Aupiki title.

Teams

There are four teams that compete in the competition. The three teams based in the north are aligned with their

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

franchises, namely the

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, Chiefs and

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. The southern team, Matatū, is governed by the

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and also includes the Highlanders region.

Champions

The following sides have won Super Rugby Aupiki titles.

Players

Each team contracts 28-players for the Super Rugby Aupiki season. All players will be paid for participating within the tournament, with all players being on professional or semi-professional contracts.

Television

Matches in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition are televised by Sky Sport in New Zealand.

Notes

References

{{Women's rugby union Rugby union leagues in New Zealand Professional sports leagues in New Zealand 2021 establishments in New Zealand Sports leagues established in 2021 Women's rugby union competitions in New Zealand

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Rugby union competitions for provincial teams