Culture the Foundation for Matatū’s Success
A day after Matatū won the final of Super Rugby Aupiki 2023 in Hamilton, players and management gathered back in Christchurch to celebrate their achievements.
The Christchurch Town Hall played host to the Matatū Awards Night on Sunday 26 March, a chance to relax and reflect on a huge season for Matatū. The title was the cherry on top of a foundational year for the franchise.
Super Rugby Aupiki is still in its infancy and the ‘22 inaugural season was massively Covid-impacted. Teams struggled to properly bond, perform in the proper game format and create a culture to unite around.
This was not the case for Matatū for the ‘23 season.
Based in Lincoln, just out of Christchurch city, Matatū had their own home base, their HQ. Shared space and a sense of belonging meant the girls, coaches and team management could genuinely rally around the team’s key values of tūmanawa (determination) tūaho (legacy), tūtira (unity) and tūhono (connections).
“Our first season was great. We launched a whole new identity for our team, something that hadn’t really been done before for a women’s sports team, but it was hard to build a foundation in a covid impacted environment” Sarah Munro said, Matatū General Manager.
“This year has been completely different. We had a base and more of an idea of who we are. Obviously on-field training was a big part of our time together, but equal focus was put on building tūhono and team culture. It takes both to make a winning team.”
And so, as the adrenaline faded from a dramatic final against Chiefs Manawa, the team regrouped off the field in Christchurch to connect and share. The Matatū Awards Night was a continuation of the team’s focus on culture and belonging, sharing in each other’s success.
Emma Dermody was awarded the Rookie of the Year Koru Award, given to a player in their first two years in the professional rugby environment. As chosen by the coaching staff, it was presented by Assistant Coach Whitney Hansen who spoke about Emma’s growth and fulfilled potential in ’23.
Grace Brooker was awarded the Players’ Choice Matatūtanga Award, as voted by her peers. Presented by Assistant Coach Tony Christie, the award is given to a player who best displayed the Matatū values through on-field performance and off-field presence.
Lucy Jenkins was awarded the Player of the Year Aoraki Award. She played a pivotal role in Matatū’s championship season and was heartedly congratulated by the entire crowd when Head Coach Blair Baxter handed over the ceremonial carved mere representing mana and prowess.
Ngāi Tahu Pounamu gifted Matatū special use of the Aotea stone for the awards, a stone only found in one area of South Westland – the Makaawhio (Jacobs) River. Local iwi Ngati Mahaki ki Makaawhio have been guardians of the stone for generations. It has a lighter glacial blue colour – similar to Matatū’s tohu.
Matatū as a team, as a brand and as an identity is strong, not only because of a title win, but because it represents so much more than winning rugby. We can’t wait to see what the ’24 Super Rugby Aupiki competition has in store.