Black Ferns No.8 Aroha Savage is making a special return to the game as captain of the Blues in Super Rugby Aupiki - with double the support crew at her side.
You won’t find their names in the starting list, but Sailor, Kiwa and Amīria are the “secret weapons” of the Blues women’s rugby team.
They’re there in the corner of the gym, chattering away while the women of the Blues go through their intense workouts. And they'll be deep within the Blues bubble while the team sets up in Taupō for the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki.
They may not offer much in terms of rugby knowledge. But what the three babies bring to the team is a joyfulness captain Aroha Savage has never witnessed before.
“They change the whole morale of the team. As soon as the babies come into the room, everyone’s happy all of a sudden,” she says. "I think they're our secret weapons."
Savage is mum to nine-month-old twins – Sailor and her brother, Kiwa. Amīria, just five months old, is the daughter of Savage’s old Black Ferns team-mate Charmaine Smith.
The young cheer team will have to wait another week to watch their mums play rugby again. Several Blues players tested positive for Covid this week, which forced the team to withdraw from their first match against Chiefs Manawa to have been played this weekend.
Now, the start of the four-team competition has been delayed a week, allowing the Blues to isolate and recover.
Neither Savage nor Smith was planning to return to the rugby field after starting their families. In fact, Smith’s playing days were brought to a screaming halt when she suffered a serious back injury, but having her daughter, she says, healed her and she’s been cleared to play again.
Two-time World Cup winner Savage wasn’t even thinking about rugby when Blues coach Willie Walker phoned and asked if she’d consider playing in Aupiki. The twins were five months old at that stage.
But Savage, a 33-test loose forward for the Black Ferns, lives by the rule to take every opportunity that presents itself.
“I coach a lot of girls in different sports, and I tell them the same thing. So now I have to walk the talk, and just do it for my kids,” she says.
Savage, who turns 32 next week, admits she feels “a lot older” since she last played in 2020.
“But I’m far more experienced than a lot of the girls and that’s probably one of the strengths I have,” she says. “Being a mum brings me a different level of mental toughness, too. And I have something more to play for now. My kids are my new motivation, and that pushes me to be better.”
Smith and Savage push each along other in training, too. “Maines looks at me and says: ‘Oh man you’ve had two [babies], so I better shut up and keep running’,” Savage laughs.
She’s still pinching herself to be part of this evolution in women’s rugby – let alone captain a team for this historic moment in the sport.
“It’s unreal. Us old girls have been waiting for these kinds of opportunities for a very long time,” Savage says. “I hope it’s also inspiring all the mums out there who are thinking of getting back into playing rugby.”
Savage first played for Auckland as a wide-eyed 17-year-old, and at just 20, made her Black Ferns debut at the 2010 World Cup against Australia.
But even in the short time she’s been away from the game, the qualified builder says she’s seen a lot of change. Exciting change, too.
“It’s cool to see all the new tricks that have come out, but also to see the new talent. There are some crazy athletes coming through and I can’t wait to see them play,” Savage says.
“I haven’t played alongside most of the girls in the Blues team, so it will be really interesting to see how they go. They have so much potential.”
Even as a new mum, playing at this year’s World Cup – in the two places she’s called home, Northland and Auckland – has become a goal for Savage.
“Getting to play for the Blues with my babies alongside me is next level amazing. But to be able to play a World Cup at home would be even better. It would put the cherry on the top of my career,” she says.
It would also mean she’d become a contracted player to the Black Ferns, joining the other 29 players whose contracts have been locked in through till the World Cup in October. It allows them to leave their day jobs and focus on defending ‘Nancy’ (the Black Ferns’ nickname for the World Cup trophy).
Savage would like both of her children to see there’s a professional pathway for both women and men in rugby, with the hope they will follow in their mum’s footsteps.
“That’s the goal,” she says. “But my girl is smaller than her brother, so she might be a Silver Fern, who knows?”
Training with babies has been an eye-opener for Savage, who takes them along with her. “I contemplated daycare for a bit there, because training started to get more intense - two hour sessions in the morning and at night, four days a week,” she explains.
“These poor kids have to sit in their pram or at the gym waiting for their mum all the time.”
But if either lets out a cry, there’s no shortage of hands to gather them up for a cuddle.
“I have a long line of babysitters who just want to take them off my hands,” she says. “They’ve adjusted really well, and they’re happy being held by anyone. It means I can go and do more training.
“The babies bring such a new vibe to the team, and they’re a good distraction.
“You know, there’s just so much pressure to perform these days. The girls go back to the hotel after training and they’re stressing out about their lineouts and their plays. But having the babies here, they just forget about it. We need to switch off sometimes.”
Savage’s partner, Carly, travelled with the team to Queenstown to look after the babies while Aroha took part in the Blues pre-season camp.
“It was so nice to come back to the hotel and return to my family - usually I come back and I’m exhausted and I have to talk rugby, and more rugby. I got to switch off completely,” Savage says.
This time, Savage’s close friend and Northland Kauri team-mate, Justice Karena, will be her travelling nanny.
“It’s tough because you’re away for longer than usual. And it has to be someone you can trust as well,” she says. “[Justice] was at the hospital when I was in labour and she’s just left her job. So it was all meant to be.”
Walker says he chose the right person to captain the Blues.
“We have got some very good leaders in our group who will provide huge support, but Aroha has such special qualities as a player and as a person,” he says. “This is an important stepping-stone for the development of women’s rugby in this country, and she is the right person to lead us.”
Savage won’t let this opportunity pass. “It’s bigger than me now. It’s for my babies as well,” she says.
“And I hope it helps all mums to see they can return to sport.”
