The women's national championship has been given an overdue revamp before the 2015 competition.
Semifinals will be played for the first time since the competition's inception in 1999, meaning teams no longer need to make the top two for a place in the final.
The format of the competition has also changed: a full round robin has been scrapped in favour of each of the nine teams playing six matches - three at home and three away - and a bye over seven weeks.
A consistent number of teams in the competition has helped with the introduction of semifinals.
Late last year, New Zealand Rugby Union community and provincial general manager Brent Anderson told the Otago Daily Times he wanted semifinals in the competition, but said it had been hard to justify with the number of teams in the competition fluctuating.
As many as 18 teams played in the competition in 2000, but it dropped to just six in 2006.
The NZRU then canned the competition for a year in 2009.
The top four teams at the end of the regular season, which kicks off on August 22, will meet in the semifinals on October 10, the top seed playing the fourth seed and the second and third seeds also playing for a spot in the final.
Under the new format, teams will play the two opponents they did not play during the season the following year.
The Otago Spirit, which finished fourth a year ago with five wins and three losses, kicks off its season against Waikato in Hamilton on August 22.
It then returns to Dunedin to play Hawkes Bay, before enjoying an early bye.
Otago will be up against a familiar face in week six in pivot Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali, who left the Spirit for Counties Manukau in January.
Defending champion Auckland, which also holds the JJ Stewart Trophy - the competition's equivalent of the Ranfurly Shield - loom as the Spirit's toughest test. The sides meet in the final regular-season match on October 3.
Six matches, including the Spirit's match against Counties Manukau, will be played as curtain-raisers to ITM Cup matches and will be broadcast live on Sky.
Otago Spirit
2015 schedule
v Waikato, Hamilton, August 22
v Hawke's Bay, Dunedin, August 29
v Canterbury, Christchurch, September 12
v Bay of Plenty, Dunedin, September 19
v Counties Manukau, Pukekohe, Sept 26
v Auckland, Dunedin, October 3
Semifinals, October 10.
Final, October 17
