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Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union

The Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union is the governing body for rugby union within the Gisborne district, in the area surrounding Poverty Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The men's representative team play from Rugby Park, Gisborne, and currently compete in the Heartland Championship.

History

The Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union was established in 1890 by four clubs in the Gisborne area — Gisborne, Turanganui, Poverty Bay and Waerenga-a-Hika — with the union's inaugural first-class match being held against Hawke's Bay the same year. Since then, the union has played against every other existent union in New Zealand as well as an array of overseas touring sides, including but not limited to Australia, England, South Africa and Japan, against whom Poverty Bay drew in 1974. In 1981, Rugby Park was the scene of clashes between pro-tour supporters and anti-tour protesters prior to a match against the touring South African side. Poverty Bay ultimately lost the game by 6 - 24.

Provincial representative rugby

National Provincial Championship

Poverty Bay won the National Provincial Championship (NPC) Third division, in:

  • 1987 coached by Grant Allen and captained by former Canterbury representative Tony Thorpe, the team was unbeaten in all 9 games they played that season including a 26-16 victory over Hawkes Bay. Fullback Richard Owen scored 104 points in NPC matches (122 in total for the season) and Andrew Hansen scored 7 tries.
  • 2004 coached by Kiwi Searancke and captained by Mark Jefferson, a former first class cricketer.

They also finished runners-up in the same division in 1994, 1995 and 1999.

Heartland Championship

Since 2006, Poverty Bay have competed in the Heartland Championship, a competition organised by the New Zealand Rugby Union for New Zealand's amateur unions. Since the introduction of the format in 2006, the team have had great success, winning the Lochore Cup on four occasions:

  • 2006 coached by Paul Feeney with Scott Leighton as captain and main goal kicker scoring 115 points for the season.
  • 2007 coached by Feeney and captained by Leighton who scored 114 points in Heartland games (144 on all games).
  • 2008 coached by Feeney and captained by Leighton. A young Charlie Ngatai from Gisborne Boys' High School also appeared in three games scoring four tries including two in the final.
  • 2011 coached by Granger Heikell and captain Leighton. John Stewart scored a Poverty Bay season record equaling 11 tries.

Poverty Bay have not managed to win the Meads Cup, having been eliminated in the semi-finals in 2009, 2010 and 2014.

Ranfurly Shield

Poverty Bay have never held the Ranfurly Shield. In 1980, Poverty Bay came close to defeating Auckland, losing a hard-fought encounter 12 - 19.

Past challenges

All Blacks

There have been seven players selected for the All Blacks whilst playing for Poverty Bay:

Players who became All Blacks after previously representing Poverty Bay include:

Super Rugby

Poverty Bay along with Wellington, Wairarapa Bush, Wanganui, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Horowhenua-Kapiti fall within the catchment. Hosea Gear is the most notable player from the Poverty Bay region to have played for the side.

References

External links