The Buller Rugby Union (BRU) is a rugby union province based in the town of Westport,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The Buller provincial boundary also includes other notable towns such as

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 ...

Karamea Karamea is a town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the northernmost settlement of any real size on the West Coast, and is located northeast by road from Westport. Apart from a narrow coastal strip, the town of Karam ...

Granity Granity is a small town on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, north-east of Westport on State Highway 67. Karamea is further north. Squeezed between the often-tempestuous Tasman Sea to the west and steep forested cloud-shrouded moun ...

, Charleston,

Punakaiki Punakaiki is a small village on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located between Westport and Greymouth on , the only through-road on the West Coast. Punakaiki is immediately adjacent to Paparoa National Park, and is a ...

and Murchison (Murchison RFC currently compete in the Tasman provincial Union competition).

History

Buller was formed in 1894. Buller has played in both the second and third divisions of the former NPC. After the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the 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 became an affiliate to t ...

(NZRU) restructuring of the NPC in 2006 Buller currently play in the Heartland Championship (effectively the NPC second division). The side has performed with distinction in this competition having made the top tier Meads Cup section twice in the past 3 seasons. Buller (often in combination with West Coast) has had some memorable matches against international sides in the past including victory over Australia. There have also been a number of other impressive results against international opposition including the British Lions, South Africa, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and various New Zealand representative sides including New Zealand Maori and New Zealand Juniors. Historically Buller were a strong provincial Union particularly in the pre 1960 era and the Union would compete on a level footing with more famous provincial sides such as Canterbury and Wellington. With the formation of the National Provincial Championship (NPC) in 1976 Buller began to struggle as players moved to bigger Unions to further their rugby and work careers. However the Union has experienced a resurgence in fortunes over the last 4 seasons with the representative team performing well in the Heartland Championship.

Clubs

Buller Rugby Union is made up of 5 clubs: * Ngakawau Rugby Football Club * Old Boys Rugby Football Club * Reefton Rugby Club *

Westport Rugby Football Club Westport RFC is a New Zealand rugby union team based in the South Island of New Zealand. The club should not be confused with the Westport Rugby Club of Ireland. The Westport RFC is affiliated to both the Buller Rugby Football Union (its prov ...

* White Star Rugby Football Club Buller also have 3 secondary schools who compete in matches: * Buller High School * Karamea Area School * Reefton Area School

Squad

2018 Squad The 2018 squad will be reduced after a couple of weeks training: L Mundy J Best R Matangi S Eggers L Hateley J Loughnan A Ellis G Duncan R Bonisch Z Walsh C Neilsen J Lepa L Brownlee K Parata K Tetai L Watson S Godwin B Pratt D Rusbatch L Elley J Walter P Foote A Stephens J Lash R Malneek I Ravudra M Feso P Saukuru S Marris M Kaloudigibeci C Jenkins B Collins M Wells A Tailua J Hands H Babbington M McLaren plus two to be added. Unavailable: S Crackett, S Neighbours, A Norton-Taylor.

Playing ground

The Buller team's home ground is Victoria Square in Westport.

Buller in Super Rugby

Buller along with

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, Tasman,

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

Mid Canterbury Mid Canterbury (also spelt Mid-Canterbury and mid-Canterbury) is a traditional, semi-official subregion of New Zealand's Canterbury Region extending inland from the Pacific coast to the Southern Alps. It is one of four traditional sub-regions of C ...

and

South Canterbury South Canterbury is the area of the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand bounded by the Rangitata River in the north and the Waitaki River (the border with the Otago Region) to the south. The Pacific Ocean and ridge of the Souther ...

make up the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

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 previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

franchise.

Championships

Buller has won one Provincial Championship, the Heartland Championship

Lochore Cup The Lochore Cup is a New Zealand rugby union trophy named after famed Wairarapa Bush and All Blacks player and coach Brian Lochore. It is contested during the Heartland Championship. It was first awarded in 2006, when the Heartland Championship ...

in 2012 defeating South Canterbury in the Final. In 2014, Buller went through Round Robin Undefeated progressing to the Meads Cup Final only to fall to Mid Canterbury.

Heartland Championship placings

Ranfurly Shield

Buller have never held the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

despite a number of close matches. The best result being in 1949 when Buller drew 6–6 against Otago at Carisbrook, Dunedin. Had the match been played using the modern scoring system, Buller would have won courtesy of scoring more tries than their Otago opposition.

Seddon Shield

Established in 1906 in honour of

Richard John Seddon Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 15th premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. In office for thirteen years, he is to date New Zealand's longest-se ...

, the Seddon Shield is a challenge shield contested by representative teams in the upper South Island. Buller along with Nelson Bays,

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

and

currently compete for the shield. Originally the

Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union The Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union was the governing body for rugby union in the Motueka and Golden Bay area, in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand, between 1920 and 1967. History The Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union was formed in 192 ...

and the

Nelson Rugby Union Nelson Rugby Union was founded in New Zealand in 1885 and played provincial rugby till 1967 when it merged with the Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union to create Nelson-Bays. Nelson in Ranfurly Shield In the history of the Nelson Rugby Union, Nelso ...

also competed for the shield before those unions amalgamated to form Nelson Bays. Buller have held the shield on a number of occasions but Nelson Bays are the current holders. In 2009 Buller lost their Seddon Shield challenge against Nelson Bays by 29–37.

Rundle Cup

The Rundle Cup is contested annually between the Buller and West Coast Unions. It is one of the oldest trophies in NZ rugby. The Rundle Cup was donated to the West Coast provincial union during their Annual General Meeting at the Albion Hotel on 24 May 1911 by William Rundle as a trophy for Buller-West Coast matches. Rundle was a local business man in the mining industry and former player for the Grey Football Club. He later perished on the frontline in France during World War One. The first contest for the cup was held in 1911 in Westport and was won by Buller.

Notable players

All Blacks

Buller has had six players selected for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

whilst playing their club rugby in Buller: * Tom Fisher *

Edward Holder Edward Catchpole Holder (26 July 1908 – 2 July 1974) was a New Zealand rugby union and rugby league player. A Rugby union positions#Three-quarters, three-quarter, Holder represented the Buller Rugby Union at a provincial level, and was a memb ...

* Charles McLean * Bill Mumm * Kenneth Svenson * Robert Tunnicliff Also: * C. Green (selected for 1910 tour to Australia but was unable to tour) * B. Stack (unused reserve for 1966 match vs British Lions) Other All Blacks to play for Buller at senior or junior level either before or after their national selection were: * George Aitken (1921 All Black captain and later a Scotland representative, played for Buller in 1914–15) *

Ben Blair Ben Austin Blair (born 26 March 1979 in Westport, New Zealand) is a former rugby union footballer. He played four tests for New Zealand. He scored 37 points on his All Blacks debut against Ireland A in 2001 at Ravenhill in Belfast; however, a ...

(2001 All Black played for Buller at junior level) * Bobby Black (An Otago All Black on 1914 Australia Tour, played for Buller after he settled in Westport after Australia Tour). * Sam Bligh (A 1910 All Black on Australian Tour, whilst playing his representative rugby for the West Coast. Played for Buller 1907–08,1911–13) *

John Corbett John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003), ...

(1905 All Black whilst playing his representative rugby for the West Coast. Played for Buller from 1908–10) * G.D.M. Gilbert (1935–36 All Black whilst playing his representative rugby for the West Coast. Played for Buller in 1930) * Fred Newton (1905 All Black. Played one game for Buller in 1908)

New Zealand Māori/Natives representatives

* T.A. French (well-known Māori rugby administrator) * A. Webster

New Zealand Sevens representatives

* S. Yates (2007–08 New Zealand Sevens representative played for Buller at junior level)

Buller centurions

The following players have made 100 appearances for Buller: * John Brazil (103 games 1986–2000) * Clark "Huck" Nelson (125 games 1996–2009) * Luke Brownlee (200 games 1999–2018) * Thomas Stuart (161 games 1984–1999) * Philip Beveridge (175 games 1993–2017) * Glenn Elley (115 games 1982–1997) * Logan Mundy (123 games 2007–2019) * Andrew Stephens (117 games 2007–2019) * Michael Bonisch (100 games 1982–1994) * John Gilbert (127 games 1971–1986) * Orlando Nahr (123 games 1956–1973) * Richard Banks (103 games 1973–1989)

References

External links

Official SiteBuller rugby
(NZHistory.net.nz)
Heartland Rugby website
{{Rugby union in New Zealand New Zealand rugby union teams New Zealand rugby union governing bodies Sport in the West Coast, New Zealand Westport, New Zealand 1894 establishments in New Zealand