Chiefs Manawa head coach Crystal Kaua. Photo / Supplied
Chiefs Manawa head coach Crystal Kaua. Photo / Supplied
Mount Maunganui's Crystal Kaua will become one of the first-ever female Super Rugby head coaches when her Chiefs Manawa side takes the field next year.
Kaua replaces Allan Bunting as head coach next season after he led the team to this year's Super Rugby Aupiki title.
While Kaua is keen to break down barriers when it comes to coaching, she prefers to leave the limelight for players.
"I probably struggle with all the attention with me being a female coach and the first, because I've only ever seen myself as a coach," she said.
"That piece needs to happen, and it's so good that young women, no matter what sport, will be able to look up and see someone like them. I think it's important for people to find role models that are like them.
"I'm pretty humbled by the amount of attention it's got... It's [the] starting point of something that will hopefully, one day, be normal."
Crystal Kaua says the women's game is strong in the Chiefs region. Photo / Supplied
This season will be the first time a female head coach is in charge, and Kaua's not the only one, with Victoria Grant, of Rotorua, taking over Hurricanes Poua.
Super Rugby Aupiki is the women's version of Super Rugby, and features two other teams alongside Chiefs Manawa and Hurricanes: Blues, and South Island team Matatū, based in Christchurch.
Kaua is no stranger to breaking the mold. She has been a full-time professional coach for the past five years - the first woman for New Zealand Rugby.
During her playing career, Kaua played for the Waikato and Auckland Farah Palmer Cup (FPC) teams, made both the Sevens and XV trial sides for the Black Ferns, and played for the Aotearoa Sevens Māori side.
She has spent 2022 as the Black Ferns Sevens performance analyst and skills coach, and has coached both in New Zealand and overseas in Japan.
Female head coaches weren't out of the ordinary in Japan, Kaua said.
"Japan is a bit of a breeding ground for New Zealand coaches, both male and female, to be in full-time roles," she said.
"It was normalised for me to be a full-time coach [in Japan] - my husband was [a coach] too alongside me, and that came normal - it being rare and new back here is challenging.
"I think it shows where we could go, where it could be, what the potential in it is, and I want to be a part of that shift. Having been a part of that world, I know we can do it."
A lot of the Chiefs Manawa players came from the region, which is a "testament" to the strength of the women's game in the area, Kaua said.
Ruby Tui tries to beat a Blues defender in March. Photo / Jeremy Ward
She said there were plenty of hard-working individuals who had been fighting to develop the game over a long period of time.
Kaua was keen to see the progression of women within the sport and for it to grow, too, but said it was key to avoid replicating the men's version.
"It's not about breaking the ceiling within women's sports - we need to redesign the house," she said. "The way we look at women's sports, market it and create a world where it's attractive in its own right, because it's different.
"You look at women's sports across the world: tennis, golf, basketball in the US, and AFL in Australia. There are marketable sports that are not replicating the men's version of it."
Bunting, Black Ferns manager of culture and leadership, said Kaua had a lot of passion for the sport and would "thrive in this position".
Kaua said the team were planning to defend their title this year.
Victoria Grant (left) and Crystal Kaua will be head coaches in Super Rugby Aupiki 2023. Photo / Supplied
The season opener between Chiefs Manawa and Hurricanes will be on February 25 in Levin, with one preseason game earlier that month.
"We have seven days total before our preseason game, three of which we can't train [on]," Kaua said. "Four training days before we come together for our first preseason.
