Taranaki Rugby Football Union

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 seven-second division titles in the National Provincial Championship, more than any other team. Further notable moments were in 1959, when a record 35,000 spectators attended Rugby Park in New Plymouth to see the province play the British Lions. Two years later 36,000 people were on hand to watch France defeat the side 11-9. Their first Ranfurly Shield victory came in 1913 when Auckland was defeated 14-11. Six successful defences followed before a 12-6 loss to Wellington in September 1914. In 1957 shield holders Wellington was defeated in a friendly match early in the year and a rematch was scheduled for later in the season. Otago defeated Wellington, and Otago accepted a special challenge by Taranaki. The match was played on 28 September 1957, the last Saturday of the season, after King Country gave up its scheduled fixture with Taranaki. Taranaki won against Otago for them to, later on, go a 13-match tenure.

In 1963 Taranaki regained the Ranfurly Shield once again off Wellington with a win at Athletic Park. Their third tenure would be its most successful one. The first challenge came from Wanganui who were making their second challenge of the season, having lost earlier to Auckland. Wanganui later would suffer a further defeat in 1964. Taranaki lost to Auckland in their last defence in 1965 and would not reclaim the shield again until 1996 when they edged Auckland 42-39. North Harbour lost narrowly in a tight contest before Taranaki was beaten by 20 points against Waikato.

Professional era

In August 2011 Taranaki defeated Southland 15-12 in Invercargill to begin a fifth tenure of the shield. This ended in October 2012 when Waikato won the last challenge of the season. In 2013 Taranaki RFU assembled a women's professional team although it was later disbanded the following year. They claimed the national title for the first time in their history with a win over Tasman in the 2014 ITM Cup. and Hawke's Bay in the 2023 competition.

Referees

Taranaki has a proud history of producing top level referees. Brian Duffy was the region's first test match referee and controlled six internationals, including one test between the British and Irish Lions and All Blacks in 1977. Paul Williams followed with his test debut coming in 2017.

Former sevens international Warwick Lahmert, Will Johnston and Chloe Sampson are in the National Panel and take charge of domestic competition matches. Richard Kelly featured in the panel for 12 years, including a successful sevens career, where he was the world's most capped sevens referee when he retired in March 2021. He controlled 280 matches over 52 tournaments, including the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, 2018 World Rugby 7s World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics, in which he refereed one semi-final. He is now an international television match official.

Other Taranaki referees have been involved in the national scene in the past, these are; Cam Stone, Dee Luckin, Darryl Heibner, Chris Pollock, Brian MacDonald, Paul Macfie, Stuart Beissell, Ross Whitmore, Paul Honiss, Russell Hodge and Murray Dombroski.

Affiliated clubs

There are 29 registered clubs incorporated and secondary schools affiliated with the Taranaki RFU, most of which have teams at both senior and junior levels. The Taranaki Rugby Referees' Association is also an affiliated member of the Taranaki RFU. The organisation provides match officials for senior club rugby down to junior grades. They also provide sideline support personnel to home National Provincial Championship, Super Rugby and test matches.

• Bell Block Rugby Sports & Community Club
• Central Rugby and Sports Club
• Clifton Rugby and Sports Club
• Coastal Rugby Football Club
• Eltham Rugby Football Club
• Francis Douglas Memorial College
• Hawera High School
• Inglewood High School
• Inglewood United Rugby Football Club
• Kaitake Rugby Football Club
• Kaponga Rugby Football Club
• New Plymouth Boys' High School
• New Plymouth Girls' High School
• New Plymouth High School Old Boys' Rugby Football and Sports Club
• Okaiawa Rugby Football Club
• Okato Rugby Football Club
• Opunake High School
• Patea Rugby & Sports Club
• Rahotu Community And Sports Club
• Sacred Heart Girls' College
• Southern Rugby Football Club
• Spotswood College
• Stratford Eltham Rugby & Sports Club
• Stratford High School
• Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls
• Toko Rugby Football Club
• Tukapa Rugby and Sports Club
• United Rugby and Sports Club (formerly Spotswood United)
• Waitara High School

Players

Notable players

Taranaki has produced 83 men's New Zealand internationals to date. Below is a list of New Zealand national rugby union players along with their number and year of debut in brackets.

• Alfred Bayly (35 - 1893)
• Alan Good (42 - 1893)
• James Lambie (27 - 1893)
• Walter Bayly (48 - 1894)
• Hugh Good (50 - 1894)
• Daniel Hughes (51 - 1894)
• Lewis Allen (56 - 1896)
• Donald Watson (65 - 1896)
• Arthur Humphries (73 - 1897)
• Bill Wells (75 - 1897)
• Hugh Mills (80 - 1897)
• Bernard O'Dowda (88 - 1901)
• Billy Glenn (111 - 1904)
• Frank Glasgow (117 - 1905)
• Jimmy Hunter (118 - 1905)
• Simon Mynott (120 - 1905)
• Jimmie O'Sullivan (122 - 1905)
• Harold Abbott (130 - 1905)
• Jack Colman (142 - 1907)
• Donald Cameron (150 - 1908)
• Jack Stohr (165 - 1910)
• Henry Dewar (175 - 1913)
• Mick Cain (187 - 1913)
• Charles Brown (192 - 1913)
• Reg Taylor (202 - 1913)
• George Loveridge (206 - 1913)
• Edward Roberts (207 - 1913)
• Alfred West (225 - 1920)
• Richard Fogarty (230 - 1921)
• Charles Kingstone (231 - 1921)
• Harold Masters (254 - 1922)
• Percy Hickey (264 - 1922)
• Handley Brown (290 - 1924)
• Gus Hart (293 - 1924)
• Davy Johnston (318 - 1925)
• Jack Walter (312 - 1925)
• Pat Ward (335 - 1928)
• Alfred Kivell (375 - 1929)
• Ray Clarke (390 - 1932)
• Arthur Collins (391 - 1932)
• Jack Sullivan (428 - 1936)
• Roy Roper (515 - 1949)
• George Beatty (517 - 1950)
• Maurice Cockerill (522 - 1951)
• Peter Burke (534 - 1951)
• Noel Bowden (544 - 1952)
• Ross Brown (572 - 1955)
• Roger Urbahn (598 - 1959)
• Kevin Briscoe (599 - 1959)
• John McCullough (603 - 1959)
• Terry O'Sullivan (612 - 1960)
• Roger Boon (616 - 1960)
• Neil Wolfe (620 - 1961)
• John Major (643 - 1963)
• Brian Muller (656 - 1967)
• Murray Wills (661 - 1967)
• Alan Smith (667 - 1967)
• Bill Currey (671 - 1968)
• Ian Eliason (706 - 1972)
• Alistair Scown (710 - 1972)
• Ash Gardiner (728 - 1974)
• Graham Mourie (757 - 1976)
• John McEldowney (768 - 1976)
• Dave Loveridge (791 - 1978)
• Murray Watts (793 - 1979)
• Kieran Crowley (848 - 1983)
• Bryce Robins (863 - 1985)
• Bull Allen (933 - 1993)
• Gordon Slater (968 - 1997)
• Andrew Hore (1019 - 2002)
• Chris Masoe (1059 - 2005)
• Jason Eaton (1063 - 2005)
• Scott Waldrom (1085 - 2008)
• Jarrad Hoeata (1109 - 2011)
• Beauden Barrett (1115 - 2012)
• Charlie Ngatai (1141 - 2015)
• Waisake Naholo (1142 - 2015)
• James Broadhurst (1144 - 2015)
• Seta Tamanivalu (1148 - 2016)
• Scott Barrett (1155 - 2016)
• Jordie Barrett (1159 - 2017)
• Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (1174 - 2018)
• Angus Ta'avao (1175 - 2018)
• Tupou Vaa'i (1188 - 2020)
• Pita Gus Sowakula (1201 - 2022)

Personnel and statistics

Seasonal record

List of centurions

List of top try-scorers

List of top point-scorers

References

References

1. "Taranaki Rugby".
2. "Our community".
3. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. (9 October 2015). "Taranaki Rugby History". New Zealand History.
4. Logan Savory. (25 August 2011). "Taranaki claim Ranfurly Shield from Southland". [[Stuff (website).
5. (4 October 2012). "Waikato take Ranfurly Shield". [[Radio New Zealand]].
6. (13 August 2014). "Two provinces join women's rugby competition". [[Radio New Zealand]].
7. (25 October 2014). "Taranaki win 2014 ITM Cup Premiership". TVNZ.
8. (17 October 1979). "Bell Block Rugby Sports & Community Club". New Zealand Business Number.
9. (11 January 2008). "Central Rugby and Sports Club". New Zealand Business Number.
10. (7 August 1979). "Clifton Rugby and Sports Club". New Zealand Business Number.
11. (21 January 1997). "Coastal Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
12. (15 October 1931). "Eltham Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
13. (8 February 1932). "Inglewood United Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
14. (30 April 1985). "Kaitake Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
15. (22 July 1928). "Kaponga Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
16. (8 May 1931). "New Plymouth High School Old Boys' Rugby Football and Sports Club". New Zealand Business Number.
17. (13 December 1928). "Okaiawa Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
18. (15 February 1929). "Okato Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
19. (5 November 1984). "Rahotu Community And Sports Club". New Zealand Business Number.
20. (27 January 1995). "Southern Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
21. (2 April 1925). "Stratford Eltham Rugby & Sports Club". New Zealand Business Number.
22. (7 June 1976). "Toko Rugby Football Club". New Zealand Business Number.
23. (14 May 1929). "Tukapa Rugby and Sports Club". New Zealand Business Number.
24. (22 July 1929). "Spotswood United Rugby Football & Sports Club". New Zealand Business Number.
25. https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360630825/name-and-logo-change-new-plymouth-rugby-club
26. https://www.sportsnewstaranaki.co.nz/news-article?id=1843
27. "Rugby: Well worth the wait — Stratford-Eltham claim overdue win".
28. "The Post".
29. (10 September 2020). "Taranaki All Blacks". Taranaki Rugby.