The Chiefs Manawa are the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki champions, but what needs to happen next to put the Black Ferns back on top of the world?
Ruby Tui playing for the Chiefs Manawa. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2022 / www.photosport.nz
The Chiefs star and Olympic gold medallist Ruby Tui has been part of the world leading Black Ferns Sevens team for a number of years and has seen first hand what can be achieved when the athletes are given the money and support they need to succeed.
She said Super Rugby Aupiki has been a long time coming.
"This is huge, we've been trying to get this over the line for many years now. It's taken a lot of mahi and while it doesn't look exactly how we'd hoped, it's exciting and it's step one on a very, very long staircase."
Tui said the lack of rugby or sevens post the Tokyo Games due to Covid and New Zealand's border restrictions had made it hard to stay focused.
She was champing at the bit for Super Rugby Aupiki.
"It was really hard coming off such a high in Tokyo and then we got told we weren't going to the Dubai Sevens and not going to the Spain Sevens because of where the border was at. So, this means heaps personally. It's such and honour and a privilege to be part of history.
"But, also just to run around and play some footy on the home whenua, it's really, really special and it's hard to articulate how much that means. The whistle goes and you just want to run at someone mate, they might not even have the ball haha. Definitely champing at the bit."
Having played a leading hand in the success of the Black Ferns Sevens team, Tui believes the Black Ferns XV players need to follow the same recipe.
The Black Ferns XVs suffered four comprehensive defeats to England and France on last year's end of year tour and face a race against time to catch up to those two sides before New Zealand defend their World Cup title on home soil in October and November.
There are test matches scheduled for the Black Ferns between now and then, but what does Tui think the long term future of the game should look like for women in Aotearoa, if the powers that be want the Black Ferns to remain a force on the international stage?
"Fully supported players and not just financially. When you talk about professional it's not just the pay; it's the systems, it's the structures it's the resources and the support.
"You've got to remember the women are stepping into a professional space with nobody there before them. A guy coming out of school, he's got guys to look up to who have been professional for years.
"For a lot of us (women), it's the first time, we're trying to figure it out ourselves. So, being supported to pave the way for professionalism within that women's space is incredibly important.
"I love rugby so much, but I'm Ruby Tui first and people need to be supported as people. We've got kids in here (Aupiki) bubbles and women that do all sorts of roles, so when they become professional rugby players, that's not all they are and they need support in other areas of their lives."
The Black Ferns XVs players were given professional contracts for the first time this year, but Tui is adamant money alone won't solve any problems.
"You can't just go here's some coin and walk away. You need systems and structures in place and everybody has to buy in.
"Rugby is a business and in every good business you have to look for ways to develop, grow and find new audiences. If you get the women's space right, that's the other half of the population of the world and that's another whole demographic you are opening up.
"So, yes, 100 percent we need to start with professional contracts. But, you can't stop there and walk away from it. It requires support and resources and if New Zealand Rugby gets it right, the Black Ferns will be world leading again very quickly."
Tui is yet to represent the Black Ferns in the 15 a side game, but she's confident they could achieve similar levels of success as the Black Ferns Sevens, if given the same level of resource.
"Black Ferns Sevens have been professional for a number of years. We live together and we train together every single day. There's not one player that I don't know, backs or forwards. We're together all the time and we're doing analysis all the time.
"We have the same doctor, the same physio. We've got the same coaches; we've got Crystal Kaua now, who is the first ever professional women's coach in New Zealand as well. We have a really good setup and we're playing international sevens throughout the entire year on the World Series.
Tui said the contrast between England, France and the Black Ferns XVs at the end of last year was stark.
"The Black Ferns XVs had no money, they were not all professionally contracted. They were not centralised.
"If you look at the England Roses, they're fully professional, fully centralised. France, they've got players on fulltime contracts just south of Paris. I've been to their base, it's an amazing setup. Any other Frenchwomen that are keen they go and they stay in Paris with them.
"This year we've made tracks and they've given, for the first time ever, fulltime professional contracts for the Black Ferns. But, that's just step one. There are lot more structures and systems that need to be put behind our women in this country.
"France and England, they were disappointed at the 2017 World Cup (won by the Black Ferns) when they lost. They both thought they were going to win. So, they tightened up ship and rarked up their whole programme, structures and systems and all the women bought into that and have reaped the rewards."
Tui said the Black Ferns XVs players deserve to be given every opportunity they can to climb back to the top of the women's rankings.
"I've never debuted for the Black Ferns XVs, I've never had that honour. Those women have been representing New Zealand for the longest, far longer than us Black Ferns Sevens have.
"They've (BF XVs) won the most World Cups in the history. They have done some amazing huge mahi for this country and I just think it's time that New Zealand Rugby turned their heads a bit more and went, 'How do we help these women flourish in the professional space'. The Black Ferns women have dominated in the space of working 40,50,60 hours a week and training and buying into every competition they do. So, how do we support that all the way down to a system level. We need everyone on the same page to support these amazing wahine."
Tui is also keen to become a Black Ferns XV player herself and would love to represent New Zealand at this year's World Cup.
"Definitely."