While Super Rugby Aupiki won't be the full competition the players wanted, for many it's a tournament they thought might never come to fruition.
Black Ferns Sevens skipper, Sarah Hirini, will captain the Hurricanes Poua. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2021 www.photosport.nz
Covid cases in the Blues pushed the start date of the already condensed competition back, before the Hurricanes had to pull out of a pre-season fixture for the same reason.
The virus put enough of the Poua players out for them to have to withdraw from their already rescheduled first game against the Blues.
However on Tuesday afternoon at 3:35pm, the Hurricanes will finally take the field for their maiden Super Rugby Aupiki game against the Chiefs Manawa in Hamilton.
The Hurricanes will be lead by the Black Ferns Sevens Olympic gold medallist captain Sarah Hirini, who is thrilled to be part of women's rugby history.
"It's something that I don't think any of us women would have thought possible, even a couple of years ago. To play for a Super Rugby club is massive. For a lot of us it's going to be really emotional to be able to do that."
Loose forward Hirini grew up in Manawatū and has always been a Hurricanes supporter.
"I've still got my top that I used to support them in when I was a kid. To be able to see that in the wardrobe and then hopefully add my own to it would be pretty amazing."
She said leading the team out onto the field for the first time will be "surreal" and those sentiments are echoed by Hurricanes midfielder and wing Janna Vaughan.
She also plays for Manawatū and teaches at Feilding High, where Hirini spent her schooldays.
In fact three of the Hurricanes Poua work at Fielding, Vaughan, Carys Dallinger and Kaipo Olsen-Baker, though they have strong connections to rival school Manukura.
"Hahaha, yeah I wasn't going to mention it, but now that you have, yes, Carys and Kaipo did their schooling at Manukura, I also taught there and helped them get through their schooling and rugby in that space. So, there's always chat among the Hurricanes Poua around schools and clubs and provinces. There's a lot of banter that goes on," Vaughan joked.
Super Rugby Aupiki is needed if the Black Ferns are to bridge the gap between them and new women's rugby powers England and France ahead of this year's World Cup in New Zealand and to advance the women's game in Aotearoa.
For Hurricanes coach Wes Clarke, it's long overdue.
"I've been coaching women's rugby since 2002 and there was nothing even on the horizon back then for any of this. So, to see the game evolve the way it has over the last 20 years, this competition has been a very long time coming.
"I've got a few goosebumps just thinking about the idea of being involved in the first Hurricanes women's game ever."
Clarke said it will be interesting to see how the four teams compare, with vastly different levels of experience in each side.
"The Chiefs have got what, 17 odd Black Ferns and Black Ferns Sevens players? So, for them it will be probably a step down from international rugby. A team like ours and maybe the Blues with a lot more Farah Palmer Cup (provincial women's competition) players it will be a step up."
New Zealand Rugby concede condensing the tournament and moving it to a Taupō bubble (with games in Hamilton) may have made it difficult for those players with other work and family committments to participate, but Clarke says none of the Hurricanes have pulled out, despite there being only two full time professionals in the squad.
One of those professionals is skipper Sarah Hirini, who is well aware of the challenges her team-mates face.
"95 percent of the girls who will be playing Super Rugby Aupiki they work fulltime and a lot of them are mums.
"So, they are getting up at 5am, training in the morning, going to a fulltime job, going to club training at night. Then every weekend we've been travelling to Wellington and doing training camps.
"They're trying to balance a family life alongside that. It is pretty tough on people."
Hirini wants to captain the Black Ferns Sevens at this year's Commonwealth Games and World Cup and make the Black Ferns 15s for their World Cup campaign.
She can train fulltime to reach those goals, but most Super Rugby Aupiki players don't have that luxury.
That will need to change if the Black Ferns are to defend their World Cup crown and reclaim their place at the top of the sport.