The Horowhenua-Kapiti Rugby Football Union is the governing body for

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

in the Horowhenua and

Kāpiti Coast Kapiti or Kāpiti may refer to: * Kapiti (New Zealand electorate), a former Parliamentary electorate *Kāpiti Coast District, a local government district *Kapiti Island * Kapiti Coast Airport * Kāpiti College *Kāpiti Expressway * Kapiti Fine Food ...

districts in the Manawatū-Whanganui and

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 ...

regions.

History

The union was established in 1893 as the ''Horowhenua Rugby Football Union'' and was changed to its current name of ''Horowhenua-Kapiti'' in 1997, in order to reflect the full extent of the union's districts.

Clubs

The union currently has nine member clubs, listed below. Foxton is the oldest club in the union, having been established in 1880, however it was not a permanent affiliate of the union until 1911. * Athletic RFC * College Old Boys RFC * Foxton RFC * Levin Wanderers RFC * Paraparaumu RFC * Rahui RFC * Shannon RFC * Toa RFC * Waikanae RFC

Provincial representative rugby

Horowhenua-Kapiti currently compete in the

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship is an annual Round-robin tournament, round-robin rugby union competition in men's domestic Rugby union in New Zealand, New Zealand rugby. First played in 2006, it is the third highest level of List of rugby union comp ...

, an annual competition organised by the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it b ...

for New Zealand's amateur unions. The team play out of Levin Domain in Horowhenua. Previously, Horowhenua-Kapiti competed in the lower divisions of the National Provincial Championship.

National Provincial Championship

The union won the National Provincial Championship (NPC) Third Division in 1993. In 2018 the union won their second major honour to date, winning the 2018 Lochore Cup Final against Wairarapa Bush 26–23. 2018 was also the union's 125th anniversary, 25 years after their previous title in their centenary year in 1993.

Heartland Championship

A summary of Horowhenua-Kapiti's placings in the Heartland Championship is shown below: There was no Heartland Championship in 2020 due to Covid 19 restrictions.

Ranfurly Shield

Horowhenua-Kapiti have never held the Ranfurly Shield but had two successful challenges in 1927 when the union was amalgamated with Manawatu as Manawhenua. In 2007 Horowhenua-Kapiti had a challenge against North Harbour, but were outclassed throughout the match, losing 99–6. Their following matches would come in 2013 when they suffered an 85–0 loss against Waikato and in 2015 when they lost to Hawke's Bay by a margin of 50–16.

Other teams

In addition to the Heartland Championship side, the union fields a number of age-grade and women's representative teams, including a High-Performance Unit for local club and school players.

Super Rugby

Horowhenua-Kapiti along with

, Wairarapa Bush,

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

, Manawatu, Hawke's Bay and

Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori language, Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa''), officially named Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay, is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for ...

fall within the (formerly ''Wellington Hurricanes'') catchment. In 2013, the union purchased a three percent stake in the company which operates the team, Hurricanes' Investment Ltd, with a $100,000 contribution.

All Blacks

There have only been two players selected for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

while playing for Horowhenua-Kapiti: * Hohepa Jacob (All Black number 220) who played 8 matches and scored 25 points for New Zealand on the 1920 tour of New South Wales as a Wing Forward/Loose forward. Jacob was also a 2nd Lieutenant in the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

in the 1919 King's Birthday Honourshttps://stats.allblacks.com/all-players/profile/Harry-Jacob-AB-220 * Joe Karam (All Black number 713) who played 10 tests and another 32 games for New Zealand between 1972 and 1975 scoring 345 points (65 in tests). Joe Karam later played for the Glenora Bears and the Auckland rugby league team. He also waged a successful campaign to overturn the murder conviction of David Bain.

Carlos Spencer Carlos James Spencer (born 14 October 1975) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and previously the head coach of the and the . He is currently an assistant coach for the New Orleans Gold of Major League Rugby (MLR). During his playing ...

played for the union between 1992 and 1993 before moving to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and Christian Cullen played for the union in 1994 before moving to Manawatu. Dane Coles and Codie Taylor played their junior rugby in Horowhenua-Kapiti making the age grade teams, while Codie Taylor also represented the Horowhenua-Kapiti sevens team.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Rugby union in New Zealand Rugby union teams in New Zealand New Zealand rugby union governing bodies Levin, New Zealand Sports organizations established in 1893 1893 establishments in New Zealand