Three in a row, and then the double: the Blues Women's 2026

If you missed Super Rugby Aupiki this year, you missed a grand final that went to the last play and a crowd of more than ten thousand people watching women's rugby in Christchurch.

The Blues Women beat Matatū 28-21 at One New Zealand Stadium on 25 July, with the winning try coming in the 80th minute. Not the 70th. The 80th.

Atlanta Lolohea scored twice and was named player of the match. Katelyn Vaha'akolo also scored twice. Matatū, who had topped the table through the regular season and were playing at home, had tries to Georgia Ponsonby, Sarah Jones and Alena Saili, and led at points in a final that could have gone either way.

That is the Blues' third Aupiki title in a row, after 2024 and 2025.

Then they did it again across the Tasman

A week later, on 1 August, the Blues went to Leichhardt Oval in Sydney for the Women's Super Rugby Champions final and beat the NSW Waratahs 24-17. Vaha'akolo scored twice again, with Chryss Viliko and Maia Roos also crossing.

That is back-to-back trans-Tasman titles on top of the three domestic ones. Whatever the Blues are doing in their women's programme, other unions will be studying it.

Ten thousand people

The crowd figure deserves its own paragraph. More than 10,000 turned up in Christchurch to watch a women's provincial final, and they got an 80th-minute winner for their trouble. Anyone still framing women's rugby as a development product should look at that number and that finish.

Spare a thought for Chiefs Manawa, who went through the season without a win. Every competition has a year like that, and the Aupiki table is tight enough that it can turn quickly.

What comes next

The women's calendar has been rebuilt for 2026. Aupiki moved to a June to July window, which is why it is already done, and the Farah Palmer Cup now runs from the end of August into October. Canterbury's draw has them opening against Auckland on Sunday 30 August, with semi-finals on 3 and 4 October and the grand final in Auckland on Saturday 10 October. Waikato go in as the reigning champions after beating Canterbury 19-13 in last year's final.

One honest note: NZ Rugby has not published a full 2026 Farah Palmer Cup draw or format announcement that we could find, so treat any talk of team numbers and divisions as unconfirmed until they do.

As for expansion, NZR's Hannah Porter has said only that "at the moment we are talking weekly about what 2027 will look like." Nothing is agreed. But on the evidence of a sold-out-feeling Christchurch final and a trans-Tasman title defence, the appetite is there.