Farah Palmer Cup 2026

The women's domestic competition kicks off this weekend. If you want to see your local team in action, you better make a plan to get down to the grounds cause otherwise you're shit out of luck.

That's right, we've all woken up back in 2020 and the Farah Palmer cup has been wiped from the schedule. The new broadcast deal signed by New Zealand Rugby last year saw the women's provincial competition get traded out of view. Just like the bad ol' days in 2020, there's only a handful of games that will make it to broadcast.

Allocation of these matches are determined primarily by the men's schedule rather than games of interest. Even then though, not all double headers will make it to Sky Sport or free to air on TVNZ+. So all in all, it's a big step backwards for women's rugby and one that most missed in the signing of last year's deal.

The impacts of this decision on the competition are death by a thousand cuts. Showing games at random, with no thought to the story lines or established rivalries means you have little chance of pulling in new fans. Showing so few matches severely limits to sponsorship value of the women's teams. Showing some teams multiple times while others just once, makes it all but impossible for me to give you any credible coverage. Showing so few games means so many will miss the debut of their loved ones, who are stepping into the high performance space for the very first time.

This is a shit decision and you should be mad about it. I sure am. What do you do with this frustration? Bomb the comment sections of TVNZ, Sky Sport, NZR and your local unions. Hit their inboxes with your 'please explains'. Write to the sponsors who you can see are supporting the women's teams to express your gratitude. Then show up in person for you teams.

I honestly almost wish they'd cut coverage entirely because then we would be able to properly organise an alternative. I have dreams of a chorus of fed up women providing you calls up and down the country. A commentary collective doing it our way and having a lot of fun in the process.

If I weren't knee deep in an election campaign, I would pick this up right now and run with it. But if someone else has the capacity, I will happily give up my platform to host such content. Hit me up!

In the meantime, for those able to go to the games in person or to prime you for the ONLY match on TV this weekend, I thought I'd give you some insight on where all your favourite Aupiki players have landed.

Where are all the Blues players going? Well most of them are actually off on the Black Fern's End of Year tour. The next biggest cohort will be suiting for the Auckland Storm in what looks like a very strong team as usual. What's most exciting for me about this team though are their coaches with Charmaine McMenamin and Aliesha Pearl Nelson named as assistants.

Speaking of assistant coaches, Hazel Tubic has an asterisks on her name here because she is once again been named as a player/coach for the Counties Manukau Heat. Grace Gago was an assistant with the side this year but now she's free from injury she's just focusing on the player. I hear she's thinking about giving loose head prop a go which would play well for her chances at higher honours.

What's interesting to note on this graphic is how Blues only draws from it's region. Sure a couple of the players on this list (Taufa Bason, Hollyrae Mete-Renata) originally come from elsewhere. But once they relocate North they stick around.

Down the road at Manawa, the Aupiki players are spread more widely across the competition. There isn't the same stickiness here between the Aupiki area and it's players. If they came from outside Manawa territory, they are heading back there too.

Still most of their players are going back to their two main feeders in Waikato and Bay of Plenty. The interesting thing is two Manawa legends who didn't feature in Aupiki will be there to meet them. With Grace Houpapa-Barrett on the squad list for Waikato and Luka Connor reappearing on the team sheet for Bay of Plenty.

Poua player spread is not dissimilar to the Manawa but there is one player who has hit and stuck with the region. Fia Laikong signing for Wellington is veerrrryyyy interesting. She's been Canterbury forever but is joining the Pride to try and help them fight their way out of the championship.

Another player to watch with an eye to next Aupiki season is Merania Paraone. A former Waikato player she was with the Manawa for two seasons (2022, 2023) before heading over the ditch. There she played for the Brumbies in the Super W but now she's randomly popping up in this championship team. Has a whiff of Hayden Trigg's about it if you ask me.

I'm excited to see how our props Muzz and Angel go. I want them back in black jerseys so hoping to see them fully express themselves. Manawatū with the Poua fire power have the potential for some real upsets this season. Picking them to make the semis at least, if not further.

Shout out to our co-cap Te Rauoriwa Gapper who returns home to Canterbury and has had the honour of being named co-captain alongside another Aupiki captain, Grace Brooker!

Be honest, did you expect to see anything different here? The south island franchise is feeding it's roots with all their Aupiki players heading back to Canterbury or Otago.

The players I'm looking forward to seeing play at this level are those we didn't see much of duirng Aupiki. It would have been a tough call for Wikitoria Rogers to not return home to the Northland Kauri. So I'm hoping she's rewarded with a HEAP of game time. Lialanie aka Binky Muamua was excellent in her minutes off the bench so likewise, hope to see her power unleashed for Canterbury.

We didn't get to see Charlotte Va'afusuaga or Naomi Sopoaga in this Matatū lineup but both have a lot of potential. I played some club footy with Naomi when she was still just a teenager and she's a real gun. Charlotte meanwhile still has one of the best steps on her that I have seen in recent times. I hope we get to see that combination fly for Otago.

Likewise, Sarah Jones was the star of that final for Matatū. I hope she picks up where she left off at the end of that match and has an absolute blinder for her home side.

ONE GAME BROADCAST THIS WEEK: Bay of Plenty vs Manawatū, 4.30pm Saturday

Tune in to watch Angel Mulu try and score one of those burrowing tries against her Poua teammates when these two face off this weekend. I hear there may be streams on offer by the unions for some of the other matches. If you find them, share in the comments will ya!

With you,
Alice