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Super Rugby Aupiki final preview: 'We can one hundred percent win'
If triple Rugby World Cup-winning Black Fern Renee Woodman-Wickliffe takes the field in the Super Rugby Aupiki final for the Blues on Saturday at Eden Park, it will be her 100th first-class match and mean eight first-class centurions will collide – the most ever seen in New Zealand.
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Woodman-Wickliffe (46 Tests, 24 tries, 36 wins) was lured out of retirement after the 2022 Rugby World Cup to cover injuries for Bay of Plenty in the Farah Palmer Cup, and now the Blues.
Woodman-Wickliffe played for Chiefs Manawa in their 35-0 mauling of the Blues in the inaugural Aupiki decider in 2022.
Blues coach Willie Walker is a former Maori All Blacks fullback. Walker guided Auckland to a Farah Palmer Cup Premiership triumph in 2023.
“We’ve got a bunch of experienced heads in this squad, many of whom have finals experience. They’ll be having conversations with our younger players this week around what to expect on Saturday and how to deal with the heightened pressure of a final,” said Walker.
Because youth that could decide the contest and Blues fullback Patricia Maliepo and Chiefs Manawa loose forward Mia Anderson represent the best of the youth on display.
Maliepo is a key attacking weapon for Walker. The Black Fern, unshackled by the foot injury that hampered her most of 2023, has been defensively sound and made timely injections on attack ranking fifth in carries (61), sixth in meters gained (316), and second in offloads (9).
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The Blues have been unstoppable since losing to Chiefs Manawa (10-17) on March 9. Four consecutive wins have earned the Blues a right to hosting rights, something they did not have for five weeks until Manawa was upset by Matatu 22-20 last Saturday.
“We’ve been building each week and were unstoppable in some areas of the field. This is the last dance. The work we’ve put in will come out on the field,” Maliepo said.
“The Chiefs strength is their forwards. If they front up early and win set pieces that won’t stop them. If our forwards meet them early and give them a taste of what we’ve got, we can hurt them.”
That’s exactly what happened in the Blues 40-26 win over Manawa on March 30. The Chiefs’ usually precise and powerful lineout malfunctioned as the Blues matched up physically and caught fire in a devastating five-minute burst which saw three tries scored in five minutes.
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Anderson will be essential in shutting down the Blues. She has featured in every match this season and has experience winning a final. In 2021 Anderson played for Waikato in its 22-20 upset of Canterbury in the Farah Palmer Cup (FPC) final. Canterbury beat Waikato 8-7 in 2020, a final in which Anderson also featured.
“It’s going to be like that this weekend; super close, they are an amazing side. Everyone is going to have to be switched on for 80 minutes to get the job done,” Anderson said.
“We’re our own worst enemies at the moment. We can one hundred percent win this weekend. We’ve put ourselves under unnecessary pressure the last two weeks. We’ve flipped that and been really positive. We’ve been waiting for it all to come together.
“We have an exciting game plan which no one else is doing. It’s been a big learning curve. It’s such a weapon when it works. When it doesn’t it goes the other way.
“Most teams play a 1-3-3-1 pod setup. We’ve changed that up and designed it for our skills so we can express ourselves more. It’s about letting the ball do the work. They don’t just run it straight, they’re in motion. It’s hard to explain in words, a bit nerdy, I don’t want to give too much away but it’s like moving pieces on a chess board quickly.”
Anderson had never been used as a strike runner of lineouts. Black Ferns winger Ruby Tui has run for the most meters in Aupiki.
Andreson debuted for a revived Northland in the FPC in 2019. She was a student at Kerikeri High School. She migrated south to Hamilton to study Business and Sports Science at the University of Waikato.
She missed the 2023 decider Manawa lost to Matatu (33-31) due to maternity leave.
Key Points
Chiefs Manawa has the best record of any team in the competition. Including a 39-12 win over the Blues in an Aupiki polite at Eden Park in 2021 they have won 11 of 14 matches. The Blues have won 7 of 12 matches.
Chiefs Manawa won the 2022 decider 35-0 against the Blues. It was not an official final but the last match of the round-robin, which Manawa topped. Luka Connor, Ruby Tui, Hazel Tubic, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, and Langi Veainu scored tries. Kelly Brazier slotted two conversions and two penalties.
Chiefs Manawa has 15 past or present Black Ferns, Blues 11.
The Blues have scored 31 tries and have had the most carries for the greatest gain.
Manawa have scored 30 tries but had 15 more clean breaks than the Blues with the least carries of any team in Aupiki.
World Rugby Player of the Year (2022) Ruahei Demant is playing second-five instead of her more customary position of first-five. Krysten Cottrell has worn the Blues Ten jersey. The former Black Ferns pivot has scored a competition-leading 45 points in six matches.
Black Ferns co-captain Kennedy Simon is the Chiefs’ top individual tackler with 82 in six matches. Maia Ross has 74 for the Blues.
Black Ferns winger Katelyn Vahaakolo (Blues) and Manawa hooker Luka Connor are the top try scorers with six. Connor has scored an Aupiki record 16 tries in 13 games.
Comments on RugbyPass
I bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments