Southlanders featuring in inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki
Southlanders Amy Rule and Amy du Plessis will run out for the Matatū side in the inaugural season of Super Rugby Aupiki. Nathan Burdon checked in with the two Black Ferns representatives to find out how preparations were going.
Two Amys.
One remembers the long first drive up her grandfather’s dairy farm driveway after moving to Invercargill from South Africa as a seven-year-old. Later she would form a potent midfield combination with Alena Saili as Southland Girls’ High burst onto the national rugby scene.
The other remembers being driven to a Riverton senior men’s rugby practice by her uncle for her first taste of the oval ball code. Then the long trips to Dunedin with her slightly-reluctant mum while still at Aparima College to play for the Otago Spirit. Four years later she was pulling on the black jersey for a test match against England.
Amy du Plessis and Amy Rule. Southland’s two feature representatives in the inaugural season (Covid-willing) of Super Rugby Aupiki, the daring venture into professionalism for women’s rugby.
So, how do you pull together a squad to represent the entire South Island?
“We are very fortunate, the squad that has been selected are just generally great people,” Rule says.
“Everyone just gelled together like glue. We all have our strengths and we’ve all owned that. We are at a point where we know this is semi-professional and it’s a short campaign, it’s a sprint so we don’t have time to beat around the bush. We have to come together as a team to perform well. I’m very excited for the season ahead.”
Following on from the historic Blues v Chiefs Manawa game at Eden Park last May, the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki competition, a stepping stone between the Farah Palmer Cup and international rugby, will kick off this weekend.
The tournament has been shortened and will now be based in Taupō to try and lessen the impacts of Omicron.
While it’s a familiar environment for many of the Canterbury-based Matatū players like Rule and du Plessis, efforts have been to ensure a special culture is being created.
“It’s cool to keep it different,” du Plessis said.
“This is Super Rugby, it’s another step up, it’s a semi-professional environment, so things have definitely changed. It’s cool to have an injection of players from around New Zealand and we’ve got two Australian girls, which is really cool to bring something different and a bit of a spark.
“At the same time, there’s a core of us who have been here a long time and are really good friends.
Rule, who played three tests during the Black Ferns tour of Europe last season, and du Plessis, who missed selection for that tour having previously played for the national side, have also both been named in a 29-strong Black Ferns contracted squad.
For Rule that meant giving up a number of “random” jobs which were initially meant to support her rugby dreams but probably caused more of a distraction in the way they affected her sleep and nutrition.
Du Plessis has been able to leave a job at a hardware store, which she didn’t love, and put her focus on rugby, which she does.
For both, the lure of a home Rugby World Cup in October shines in the distance like the Waipapa Point lighthouse.
“I’m someone that doesn’t like to focus on end goals, I’m very process driven,” Rule says.
“But I’m very excited for it to go ahead and I’ll do anything I possibly can to get there. It will be such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don’t think words could describe what it would be like having my family come up to see me do that if I got selected.”
Du Plessis believes it will be huge for women’s rugby.
“That’s my absolute goal. I want to be playing in that team and making a massive impact. Obviously I’ve got a lot of work to do before that, but that’s the big goal.”
