{"id":459363,"date":"2026-02-05T05:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T05:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/459363\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T05:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T05:04:08","slug":"baxter-returns-to-matatu-in-super-rugby-aupiki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/459363\/","title":{"rendered":"Baxter returns to Matat\u016b in Super Rugby Aupiki"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/382be2_5c1f41a17cf24f138f84c31fd2d9eff3~mv2.jpg\" alt=\"Blai Baxter has been confirmed as Matat\u016b head coach for Super Rugby Aupiki PHOTO: MATATU RUGBY GRAPHIC \" style=\"width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%;max-width:100%;position:absolute;left:0;top:0\" data-pin-url=\"https:\/\/www.nzsportswire.com\/post\/baxter-returns-to-matat\u016b-in-super-rugby-aupiki\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/382be2_5c1f41a17cf24f138f84c31fd2d9eff3~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_1200,h_676,al_c,q_85\/382be2_5c1f41a17cf24f138f84c31fd2d9eff3~mv2.jpg\" draggable=\"false\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Blai Baxter has been confirmed as Matat\u016b head coach for Super Rugby Aupiki PHOTO: MATATU RUGBY GRAPHIC <\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-vjfgu351\">The inaugural coach of Matat\u016b,  Blair Baxter is returning to the Super Rugby Aupiki side for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-4i91m914\">He replaces Whitney Hansen has moved on to become Black Ferns Head Coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-wl7kf447\">The South Island team, which is based in Christchurch, won the competition under Baxter in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-fsus0450\">A former Farah Palmer Cup winning coach with Canterbury, Baxter served as assistant coach of the China women\u2019s sevens team in 2023, before returning to New Zealand and assisting Matat\u016b last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-5mygg454\">He also worked the New Zealand under-18 sevens, recently guiding the team to victory at the Youth Global Sevens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-e3rrn458\">\u201cBlair has been part of our journey from the very beginning. His deep understanding of our kaupapa, his genuine care for our athletes, and his proven ability to lead at the high-performance level make him the right person to guide us forward into 2026. This is an exciting step for our club,\u201d said Matat\u016b general manager of rugby Sarah Munro.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-8nj64461\">Baxter was involved with defence and team culture last year, ensuring his promotion represented continuity and evolution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-ccaso464\">Matat\u016b\u2019s wider coaching squad is in the process of being finalised and will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"DFnp0 WloJR nsGWt _6qLM3\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-q0y97481\">The competition will be held in June &#8211; August 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blai Baxter has been confirmed as Matat\u016b head coach for Super Rugby Aupiki PHOTO: MATATU RUGBY GRAPHIC The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-459363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}