The nib Blues have announced the club\u2019s first ever long-term contracts for its women\u2019s programme, securing Tara Turner, Maama Vaipulu, and Jaymie Kolose through to the end of the 2028 Super Rugby Aupiki season.<\/p>\n
Turner, one of the most exciting young talents in the game, has become a cornerstone of the team after making the shift from fullback to recreate her game at halfback in 2025.<\/p>\n
Vaipulu brings explosive power and physicality to the forward pack. Known for her ability to shift momentum, she has continued to grow into a key figure in the Blues\u2019 line-out.<\/p>\n
Kolose, already a huge attacking threat, has also made a huge shift on defence to embed herself as a game-breaker on the Super Rugby and Black Ferns Sevens stage.<\/p>\n
All three debuted together in 2023 and have since been called up for New Zealand representative duties.<\/p>\n
nib Blues head coach Willie Walker said the signings represent a defining moment for the programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is huge for our club and for women\u2019s rugby in Aotearoa. Securing Tara, Maama, and Jaymie for the next three years gives us a strong core to build around. These are players who not only perform at the highest level but drive standards every day,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the women\u2019s game evolve rapidly, and commitments like this show that we\u2019re serious about creating an environment where our athletes can thrive long-term. It\u2019s about performance, but it\u2019s also about connection, identity, and building something that lasts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move aligns with the Blues\u2019 broader strategy to invest in pathways and provide greater certainty for female athletes, ensuring they can develop their careers within a world-class professional environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nib Blues have announced the club\u2019s first ever long-term contracts for its women\u2019s programme, securing Tara Turner,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-577565","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\/577565","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=577565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}