Defaults and Cricket Scores

How two provinces are tackling this recurring problem

Back in 2015, my club set a record for one of the biggest ever points differential in a game. The irony of this being that Johnsonville was my first club and when I last played for them against Wainuiomata, we beat them 136-0 before the game was called off after 60 minutes.

With the Farah Palmer Cup set to kick off shortly, I wanted to get myself familiar with how the teams are shaping up and more importantly, understand a little bit more about the club system that feeds them. It’s no secret that player experience varies wildly province to province and that even short distances, like that between Wellington and Manawatū, can be worlds apart in their approach to the women’s game.

The frustration with this is that our core challenges are fairly universal. The system is set up in such a way, that those that climb all the way to the top of the women’s rugby ladder start again at the bottom each season. This means that veteran Black Ferns are playing alongside newcomers to our sport and there are pros and cons to this of course.

The positive being that we know our heroes. Each Saturday, you get to square up against the best our country has to offer and so by the time that test rugby rolls around, our communities get behind our Black Ferns with a sense of local pride. These players are often the anchors, the draw cards, the most committed members of our teams. There’s a challenge looming with the timing of Super Rugby Aupiki. It currently kicks off at the same time as our club preseason. Super Rugby Aupiki players are our load bearing walls, taking them out without a plan from our provinces could see clubs collapse.

Whereas the obvious negative with this system is that someone who is stepping on the field for the very first time might be sharing it with an international player. This is, quite frankly, dangerous. So club seasons generally start as a free for all, with all teams playing all teams in a round robin format, leading to two outcomes - defaults or cricket scores.

I spent 18 months working voluntarily with Wellington Rugby to try and educate them on this issue. That here, our club scene is naturally split into three divisions; established, emerging and developing sides. The number of registered clubs however, meant that the split could only really support two grades; established and emerging, with 4 teams in the top and 5 in the bottom. It was frustrating to some as we ended up playing the same sides more often but it was easy to counter this by pointing out the massive reduction in the number of defaults and scoreline blow outs.

After showing success, Wellington Rugby chucked this format out with no consultation, to revert back to round 1 round robin format this season. Which is why the results in the opening round was the least surprising thing in the world:

This is why I sent a break up letter to Wellington Rugby earlier this year. What’s the point in providing expert advice if it isn’t being listened to?

But enough about Wellington and my sadness with how we are mismanaged. I thought to start with a conversation with two of the most successful provinces, Auckland and Canterbury, to understand how they work. A massive thank you to Steph Te Ohaere-Fox and Ruahei Demant for taking the time to explain this all for me.

A club structure that supports our high school girls to connect with local clubs, can you imagine???

Canterbury have an easily accessible strategic plan for the wāhine of their region. This makes it hard to hold a grudge against them (as is my right as a Wellingtonian).

In Christchurch, there is college rugby but school girls can also play alongside boys in a U13 club competition or in a girls only league for U15 and U17 at their local club. When they age out of these divisions, they have a premier women’s and a newly created premier reserve grade to play for. Premier reserve is a social league hosting around 5 teams and the Premier women’s goes through the same iterations Wellington does with the round 1 being round robin to grade all 8 sides before they split into two divisions for round 2.

Meanwhile, in Auckland we see more bespoke options for wāhine and kōtiro. In the school girls grade, this manifests as college rugby and a quad series for U14. This quad format is a regional series, whereby schools can nominate players to be selected for a North, South, East or West team. These teams then play off against each other in a round robin series.

U15 are encouraged to connect directly with their local clubs. All local colleges, whether they have a girls team or not, are attached to a club. This is an awesome safety net to catch young talent that might have landed at non-rugby school. These girls play a club season on Friday nights, allowing the women’s side to get down and support their little sisters.

When they get to women’s rugby, they have three options; Premier, Premier Reserve and 10s. Like Wellington, Auckland Rugby have ping-ponged back and forth between splitting the grades into Premier and Premier Reserve from the jump or lumping everyone in for the first round. Last year it was split, this year is was lumped and what do you know? Defaults and cricket scores.

10s is a grade is there to provide a social option, a growth option for new clubs and also a place for players looking to crack into their women’s premier side.

A note here: Auckland Rugby does their part to support women’s rugby in Auckland but also their neighbouring provinces of Counties Manukau and North Harbour, who send their teams to this region to participate. Auckland Rugby was also instrumental in the re-establishment of Waikato club rugby, offering their sides the opportunity to travel and compete before they were able to breakaway and run a local competition of their own. Also note, when I say Auckland Rugby, this is due in no small part to the strong advocates within that organisation who understand that we are nothing without opposition to play.

What’s the takeaway?

If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail. We are told constantly about this growing wave of wāhine participation in our sport but it is crashing on a system that is not always ready to receive us. What I like about the Auckland and Canterbury models is that they are not waiting until school girls age out of college rugby to try and connect them to their local clubs. They are taking an active role in helping to facilitate that relationship.

When it comes to the women’s space, the Premier plus Premier Reserve format in Canterbury and the Premier plus 10s format in Auckland mean that clubs can actually have two women’s sides. This was one of the most special parts of my time playing in England, that my club had two women’s teams. It meant that training was an actual thing as we could run against each other and socially, that I was much more comfortable heading down the club as there were strength in numbers.

These are just examples of two of the thirteen provinces that compete in the Farah Palmer Cup. I will be looking to highlight other variations that I come across as I have yarns with other regions.

With you,

Alice