The North vs South match, sometimes known as the Interisland match, was a longstanding

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 ...

fixture in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

between the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

and

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

teams. The first match was played on 30 June 1897 at Wellington's Athletic Park, and the match became an annual fixture from 1902. Matches ceased during

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from 1915 to 1918, but during

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only the 1940, 1941 and 1942 matches were cancelled, with competition resuming in 1943. The last annual match on a regular basis was played in 1986. A one-off match was played at Dunedin's

Forsyth Barr Stadium Forsyth Barr Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. At various stages of development it was also known as Dunedin Stadium or Awatea Street Stadium, or its non-commercial official name during the 2011 Rugby World Cup and 2 ...

in 2012 to help fundraise for the financially troubled

Otago Rugby Football Union The Otago Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union for the Otago region of New Zealand. The union is based in the city of Dunedin, and its home ground is Forsyth Barr Stadium. The top representative team competes in ...

, which was won by the South 32–24. A second one-off match was initially scheduled to be held on 29 August 2020, but due to the

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restrictions, it was postponed to 5 September 2020. Most early matches were played in one of the four main cities (Auckland and Wellington in the North Island, Christchurch and Dunedin in the South Island), but from 1970 onwards the fixture was rotated around a number of provincial centres.

Colours

In the very first match in 1897, the North Island wore yellow and black jerseys, while the South Island team wore all black. Since 1904 the North Island traditionally played in black jerseys and black shorts, while the South Island played in white jerseys with white shorts.

List of results

Overall

References

* Lambert, M. and Palenski, R. ''4th Air New Zealand Almanac'', Moa Alamanac Press 1985.

Notes

{{Top-level rugby union club competitions Rugby union competitions in New Zealand 1897 establishments in New Zealand Rugby union rivalries in New Zealand Recurring sporting events established in 1897