Follow the action as Matat\u016b host Chiefs Manawa at One New Zealand Stadium in the opening round of Super Rugby Aupiki. <\/p>\n
With movement in squads during the off-season and teams having had more time to prepare together, Porter expected the upcoming edition of Aupiki would be the most competitive yet, and that would be on show from the opening round of fixtures.<\/p>\n
A record crowd was expected for the Saturday evening clash between Matat\u016b<\/a> and Chiefs Manawa. In Matat\u016b\u2019s first game at Christchurch\u2019s new One New Zealand Stadium, 10,000 tickets had already been sold on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n That was more than double the current attendance record for a standalone domestic women\u2019s rugby fixture in New Zealand, with 4,800 turning up for the 2024 final between Blues Women and Chiefs Manawa at Eden Park.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n There will be plenty of new and relocated talent on show in week one, with about 40 players across the four squads running out for their team for the first time.<\/p>\n Among them, Black Ferns fullback Renee Holmes will make her debut for Hurricanes Poua, while six-test Wallaroos playmaker Carys Dallinger makes her debut for Chiefs Manawa.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019ll see some young new stars come out of it. I think that I would like to say that our Black Ferns players and those that are knocking on the door of that will stand up and take some leadership roles and you\u2019ll be able to see that on the field,\u201d New Zealand Rugby head of women\u2019s high performance Hannah Porter said.<\/p>\n \u201cAm I going to say upsets? I reckon there\u2019ll be some upsets in the first round and then the second round\u2019s going to be pretty interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n