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2008 Air New Zealand Cup
The 2008 National Provincial Championship was the third season of the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand, since it was reorganised in 2006. Matches started on 31 July 2008, and continued until the final on 25 October 2008. This season was the third of the expanded competition, which succeeded the First Division of the National Provincial Championship. It started with a 10-week round robin in which each team played against all but three of the others in the competition. This was followed by a knockout playoff involving eight teams, made up of quarterfinals, semifinals and the final. On 11 August 2008, the New Zealand Rugby Union initially announced that Tasman and Northland would both be relegated from the Air New Zealand Cup after the completion of the 2008 season. Both teams failed to meet criteria which included financial stability, population, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canterbury Rugby Football Union
The Canterbury Rugby Football Union (which is also referred to as Canterbury or CRFU) is the governing body for rugby union in a portion of the Canterbury region of New Zealand, and runs the Canterbury representative team. The Canterbury team has won the National Provincial Championship, Air New Zealand Cup, and the ITM Cup 14 times including a "six-peat" from 2008 to 2013 – with five in the National Provincial Championship, two in the Air New Zealand Cup, five in the ITM Cup and one in the Mitre 10 Cup. Their most recent victory was the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup. Canterbury also acts as a primary feeder to the Crusaders, who play in the Super Rugby competition. The union also administers all club rugby within the region, including senior club rugby and school rugby. Canterbury has produced the most All Blacks of any New Zealand region, with Scott Barrett becoming Canterbury's 200th All Black in 2016. History Early history (1879–1975) The Canterbury Rugby Football Union ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taranaki Rugby Football Union
The Taranaki Rugby Football Union (TRFU, Taranaki Rugby) is the governing body for rugby union in Taranaki, New Zealand. Established in 1885, it is based in New Plymouth. The union's traditional colours are amber and black. The Taranaki Bulls and Taranaki Whio are the two most senior representative men's and women's teams, competing in the NPC and Farah Palmer Cup respectively. The Bulls typically play their home games at Stadium Taranaki in New Plymouth, while the Whio play at Stadium Taranaki and other venues across the province. Taranaki Rugby is part of the Chiefs Super Rugby region and has a 23.1% ownership stake in the franchise. History Early years Taranaki was officially established in 1889 after a team chosen from the surrounding clubs in existence played as Egmont in 1885. They began with a brown coloured jersey before adopting the amber and black hoops in 1892. During the amateur period, the team won the Ranfurly Shield on four occasions. It had also won se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Plymouth
New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Plymouth District, which includes New Plymouth City and several smaller towns, is the 10th largest district (out of 67) in New Zealand, and has a population of – about two-thirds of the total population of the Taranaki region and % of New Zealand's population. This includes New Plymouth City (), Waitara, New Zealand, Waitara (), Inglewood, New Zealand, Inglewood (), Ōakura (), Ōkato (561) and Urenui (429). The city itself is a service centre for the region's principal economic activities, including intensive pastoral activities (mainly dairy farming) as well as Petroleum, oil, natural gas and petrochemical exploration and production. It is also the region's financial centre as the home of the TSB (New Zealand), TSB Bank (formerly the T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yarrow Stadium
Stadium Taranaki is situated in the central suburb of Westown in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand, with main vehicle access off Maratahu Street. Named the third best rugby stadium on earth by ''New Zealand Rugby World'' magazine in May 2009, Stadium Taranaki (known as Stadium Taranaki for the Rugby World Cup 2011) conforms with the International Rugby Board's "clean stadium" policy. In February 2025, previous stadium sponsors Yarrows the Bakers announced they were not going to renew their naming rights agreement after it was in place since August 2002. The primary tenant of this 25,000-capacity stadium is the Taranaki Rugby Football Union which has a representative team playing in the country's principal rugby union competition, the National Provincial Championship. Since 2013, the stadium has played host to the Chiefs team as part of a new alliance, after Taranaki cut their ties with the Wellington-based Hurricanes. The venue was first developed as a rugby ground in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taranaki Rugby Union
The Taranaki Rugby Football Union (TRFU, Taranaki Rugby) is the governing body for rugby union in Taranaki, New Zealand. Established in 1885, it is based in New Plymouth. The union's traditional colours are amber and black. The Taranaki Bulls and Taranaki Whio are the two most senior representative men's and women's teams, competing in the NPC and Farah Palmer Cup respectively. The Bulls typically play their home games at Stadium Taranaki in New Plymouth, while the Whio play at Stadium Taranaki and other venues across the province. Taranaki Rugby is part of the Chiefs Super Rugby region and has a 23.1% ownership stake in the franchise. History Early years Taranaki was officially established in 1889 after a team chosen from the surrounding clubs in existence played as Egmont in 1885. They began with a brown coloured jersey before adopting the amber and black hoops in 1892. During the amateur period, the team won the Ranfurly Shield on four occasions. It had also won se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island), and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century. The area was initially settled by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. Smith's plan included a series of inter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blenheim, New Zealand
Blenheim ( ; ) is the most populous town in the regions of New Zealand, region of Marlborough Region, Marlborough, in the north east of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an estimated population of as of The surrounding Marlborough wine region is well known as the centre of the New Zealand wine industry. It enjoys one of New Zealand's sunniest climates, with warm, relatively dry summers and cool, crisp winters. Blenheim is named after the Battle of Blenheim (1704) in the War of the Spanish Succession, where troops led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeated a combined French and Bavarian force. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "Phormium tenax, flax stream" for the town's Māori name, . History The sheltered coastal bays of Marlborough supported a small Māori people, Māori population possibly as early as the 12th century. Archaeological evidence dates Polynesian human remains uncovered at Wairau Bar to the 13th ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lansdowne Park, Blenheim
Lansdowne Park, a rugby stadium in Blenheim, New Zealand, is one of the two home grounds for National Provincial Championship team Tasman, the other being Trafalgar Park in Nelson. It was also home to Marlborough until they merged with Nelson Bays to form Tasman, and is currently home to two Blenheim clubs, Harlequins and Central. It also served as Russia's training base for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and hosted a 2016 pre-season Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ... match between the and . References Rugby union stadiums in New Zealand {{NewZealand-sports-venue-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whangārei
Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the largest settlement of the Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, created in 1989 from the former Whangarei City, Whangarei County and Hikurangi Town councils to administer both the city and its hinterland. The city population was estimated to be an increase from 47,000 in 2001. Etymology The origin of the name Whangārei is unclear, as a number of (Māori traditional stories) are associated with the harbour. One major tradition involves the sisters Reitū and Reipae of the ''Tainui (canoe), Tainui'' migratory waka, who either flew from the Waikato north on the backs of birds, or in the form of birds. Other traditions describe the meaning of Whangārei as "lying in wait to ambush", referring to warriors watching over the harbour from Castle Rock, or Whangārei meaning "to gather", referring to the harbour as a gathering place for whales or for important rangatira. History The harbour is known fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homeworld Stadium
Okara Park, currently known commercially as Semenoff Stadium (previously known as Toll Stadium due to a sponsorship agreement) is a multi-purpose stadium in Whangārei, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and is the home stadium of Northland Rugby Union. The stadium is able to hold 18,500 people and was built in 1965. The park has recently had a $16m redevelopment with the new grandstand known as the Northland Events Centre being built. The new development has turned Okara Park into a multi-purpose Northland sports hub. Despite Okara Park only having a capacity for 30,000 people at a stretch, there was a match of Rugby Union in 1979 where around 40,000 people crammed into the stadium thanks to its large embankment. The occasion for this record crowd was the defence by the local side, North Auckland, of the prized Ranfurly Shield against Auckland. The stadium has held national games, including the New Zealand Māori rugby league team beating the Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manawatu Rugby Union
The Manawatu Rugby Football Union (MRU) serves as the governing body of the sport of rugby union in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. Founded in 1886, Manawatu is one of New Zealand's oldest rugby unions. In 1892, the MRU, amongst other unions, played a pivotal role in establishing the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU). During 1997–1998, Manawatu entered into an amalgamation with , as the "Central Vikings", wearing orange and blue attire. The union is based in the city of Palmerston North though its catchment area includes players and clubs from nearby towns in the province, including Ashhurst, Feilding, Rongotea, Linton, New Zealand, Linton, Bulls, New Zealand, Bulls, Pahiatua, Woodville, New Zealand, Woodville and Dannevirke. It has over 5,000 players, making it the tenth largest union in New Zealand in terms of player numbers. In 2011, the union celebrated its 125th jubilee. Manawatu have traditionally played in a distinctive green and white tramline jersey, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union
The Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union (CMRFU) is the governing body of rugby union in Southern Auckland and the Franklin District, Franklin district of New Zealand. Nicknamed the ''Steelers'', their colours are red, white, and black horizontal bands. The Steelers moniker is a reference to the Glenbrook steel factory, which is in the area. The union is based in Pukekohe, and plays at Navigation Homes Stadium. History The union was preceded by the South Auckland Rugby Union (1926–1955), South Auckland sub-union of the Auckland Rugby Football Union, the sub-union being founded in 1926. This became a full union, with the name "South Auckland Counties", in 1955. The name was shortened to "Counties" just a year later. The name Counties Manukau was adopted in 1995. The history of Counties has been very much about adventurous football and taking risks, and this was certainly the case initially as the team strove to establish an identity and tradition. Counties' first game was ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
