Aupiki: Round 3 Preview
Let's find out who plays who in the semis!
It’s already the final round of Aupiki which is quite frankly ridiculous but I will save that for a little rant at the end of this. You can skip straight ahead to that if you don’t want to read through my messy descriptions of who could end up playing who in the semi finals. Just scroll and look for the arrow! It’s made my head hurt to write so consider yourself warned.
How to stay the heck away from Manawa
With only four teams in the competition, everyone is assured a spot in the semi finals but results from this weekend will determine who plays who. First placed will play fourth and second plays third. Because there’s no home advantage on the line, with all semi finals being play at North Harbour Stadium, what teams will be most concerned about is who they will face.
And let’s be honest, it’s basically about trying to avoid Manawa in the semi final.
No one will admit that, folks will say ‘to be the best you gotta beat the best’ etc etc. But I will just say confidently as a fan, I wouldn’t want my team to play them. So how does each team avoid playing Manawa?
Matatū
The only way Manawa drop out of that top spot is if Matatū give them an absolute hiding. If that happens, Matatū will need to finish first and the easiest way for that to happen is for the Poua to lose or win without a bonus point. Otherwise it becomes a points differential equation for first place finish.
The campaign could go right off the rails for Matatū if they are beaten convincingly and Blues eke out a win without a bonus point. Then they are at the mercy of points differentials and could end up playing Manawa again the following week.
Best plan? Win big or lose and cheer for the Poua
Poua
The Hurricanes could end up with a repeat of round one, facing Manawa in the 1st v 4th semi final if they lose without a bonus point and Manawa beat Matatū.
They could also end up playing them if they win without a bonus point and Matatū win with one.
Even if they win with a bonus point, they could still end up playing Manawa if the Matatū also win with a bonus point and their points differential is worse.
Best plan? Cheer for Manawa and then go win
Blues
The Blues can avoid Manawa, if they win with a bonus point and the Manawa win.
If they win well, they could still end up playing Manawa if Matatū win their game. So if this happens, they will want them to have won without a bonus point and hope that Manawa’s points differentials hold.
Best plan: Cheer for the Manawa and then win with a bonus point
Rant-ity Rant
Hi friend! Okay, either congrats for reading that noise or fair enough for skipping it. As promised heres a little rant.
Aupiki being so short is stupid. It means it isn’t ever going to be able to achieve what it should which is uplifting the performance of our top talent from around the country. Instead it means it’s not properly funded and therefore run cause everyone is still trying to do it while doing other things.
I mean EVERYONE. Majority of players are burning out cause after they play Saturday, it’s back to work Monday. They are sold on the big dream, get a little taste but at the same time are fed big ol’ dose of reality with just how much sacrifice is expected of them to prove the concept NZR didn’t want to fund.
Administrators don’t have dedicated Aupiki resource because it doesn’t make any sense to bring it in for 4 weeks. So this mahi is just put on someones already full plate. The competition is relying heavy on these folk to go above and beyond just as their main gig, the men’s comp, is proper kicking off.
This window is also stupid because of this when it comes to rugby journos. There aren’t many like me that are going to choose to cover Aupiki only. So folks need to be across both which means you’re going to get barebones coverage rather than proper analysis cause people won’t serve the emerging market when the establish one is hungry for content.
ALL IN ALL THIS WINDOW SUCKS!!!! Either build it bigger so we can see what the future of the game looks like or move it to a place that offers some clear daylight.
Okay, that’s enough.
With you,
Alice