Baxter made her Super Rugby Aupiki debut for Matatū three weeks ago in a win over Chiefs Manawa and has since featured in a loss against Hurricanes Poua and a victory over the Blues.
Matatū play Chiefs Manawa in Hamilton at 12.20pm on Saturday.
Having turned 18 in March, Baxter is the youngest player to wear the Matatū jersey since the competition began in 2022.
“It’s been pretty quick,” she said of her rise through the ranks.
“I originally wasn’t in the team. I was on one of the intern (part-time) contracts and Whitney (former coach Whitney Hansen) called me a couple of weeks later saying that I’d be on a full one, which was pretty exciting.”
That call came in December, before a summer of change for Matatū.
Hansen has since become Black Ferns head coach, while Baxter’s father, Blair, has returned to lead Matatū after coaching the side to its only title in 2023.
Despite living with her coach, Baxter said separating rugby and family life has not been an issue.
“It’s pretty cool. I think we definitely have that switch-off time when we’re at home. No rugby chat, nothing like that, just straight back to being my dad,” she said.
“And then when we’re here, it’s just rugby. He's just like another coach. But it’s pretty cool to be able to do what I love with him as well.”
The family live close to Matatū’s base at Lincoln University, so Baxter doesn’t need to travel to training with her dad.
“He’s normally in way earlier than me anyway.”
Baxter played for the Lincoln club until under 12 level before moving to Christchurch Girls’ High School where she played her rugby.
She said the support from her former club has continued as she has progressed through the game.
“They always reach out. I think they’re quite proud. On the wall at the club, they’ve got all the All Blacks and Canterbury players, and I’ve made my way on there.”
Less than a year ago, Baxter was helping Christchurch Girls’ High to a 29-15 win over Auckland’s Howick College in the third-place playoff at the national Top 4 competition.
Since then she made her Farah Palmer Cup debut for Canterbury at 17 and came off the bench in last season’s final, where Canterbury went down 19-13 to Waikato.
“I’ve got quite a few friends still in high school and they’re playing Wednesday rugby, and I’m playing on a Saturday in Super Rugby,” she said.
“It’s pretty crazy when you think about it like that.”
Her Super Rugby Aupiki debut came in Matatū’s first match at One New Zealand Stadium, played in front of a record crowd of more than 11,700 as the home side beat Chiefs Manawa 52-26.
“The first game was pretty unreal to be able to debut at the new stadium.”
“And debuting with so many other girls was pretty cool.
“Then the first travelling game against the Hurricanes, that was also cool to see how it is when we go away. It wasn’t a great game, but we still got the result.”
