Kia Toa RFC is a constituent club in the Manawatu province for rugby in

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 ...

. It is at the Palmerston North Bowling Club on Linton Street and is one of the oldest clubs in the Manawatu. Kia Toa is a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

term, which can be translated as "Be Brave". Due to the colours of the jersey, a dark blue and light blue combination, Kia Toa are known sometimes as "The Double Blues."

History

The club was founded in 1902 and is the oldest Town based club in the Manawatu. The club is currently based out of the Manawatu Bowling Club at 24 Linton Street. Eight of its senior players have worn 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 ...

jersey, six women players have worn the

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tournamen ...

jersey. Additionally, there have been members who have worn the New Zealand colours in Sevens, Maori All Blacks, New Zealand U-20s, and New Zealand Divisional XV, and hundreds who have worn the green and white representative colours.

Honors

*2017 Runners Up *2016 Runners Up *2015 Runners Up *2014 Runners Up *2013 Hankins Shield Winner *2010 Hankins Shield Winner *2009 Hankins Shield Winner

Notable people from Kia Toa

Men *

Sione Asi is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a Prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to ...

, Manawatu Turbo * Brayden Iose, Hurricane, Manawatu Turbo, New Zealand Secondary Schools Captain *

Jackson Hemopo Jackson Nikora Hemopo (born 14 November 1993) is a New Zealand All Black and rugby union player who currently plays as a lock or loose forward for in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the in the international Super Rugby competition. ...

, Maori All Black, Highlanders, Manawatu Turbos *

Ngani Laumape Koinonia Halafungani Laumape (born 22 April 1993) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer who currently plays as a centre for Kobelco Kobe Steelers. Laumape previously played in Super Rugby for the Hurricanes and was previously a rugby league ...

, All Black no. 1160, Hurricane, Manawatu Turbo,

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

2013-2015 *

Valentino Mapapalangi Valentino Mapapalangi (born 18 July 1993) is a Tongan rugby union player. He plays in the number 8 and blind side position. He previously played for the England based Premiership Rugby side, Leicester Tigers. Mapapalangi also represents Tonga a ...

, Tonga,

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

, Manawatu Turbos * Nathan Tudreu, Manawatu Turbo * Newton Tudreu, Manawatu Turbo * Jade Te Rure, Manawatu Turbo, New Zealand under 20s * Jason Emery, Maori All Blacks, Sunwolves, Highlanders, Manawatu Turbo, New Zealand Under 20s, New Zealand Secondary Schools. * Dan Squires, Manawatu Turbo * George Tilsly, All Black Sevens * Tevita Taufu'i, Tonga, Waikato, Manawatu Turbos * Bryn Templemen, Manawatu Turbos *

Lote Raikabula Lote Raikabula (born 31 July 1983 in Suva, Fiji) is a New Zealand rugby player who has played both rugby union and rugby sevens. He currently plays for the All Blacks Sevens team in the IRB Sevens World Series & is the Rugby coach for Trinity ...

, New Zealand Sevens, Manawatu Turbos * Ma'afu Fia, Ospreys, Highlanders, Manawatu Turbo * Scott Curry, Manawatu Turbo, All Black Sevens Captain * Fraser Stone, Manawatu Turbo *

Kurt Baker Kurt Baker (born 7 October 1988) is a New Zealand rugby union player, who currently plays as a fullback or wing for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby (MLR). Between 2008 and 2022, Baker played for the New Zealand Sevens team in 233 World ...

, All Blacks Sevens *

Dan Ward-Smith Daniel Ward-Smith (born 2 January 1978) is a former New Zealand-born English rugby union player who played at number eight for Bristol & London Wasps. He also covered flanker and second row, which made him a useful forward to have in the Wasps ...

, London

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

* Bertus Mulder, Durban

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

, Manawatu Turbos * Siaosi Anamani, Manawatu Turbos *

Christian Cullen Christian Mathias Cullen (born 12 February 1976) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. He played most of his rugby at fullback for New Zealand (the All Blacks), for the Hurricanes in the Super 12, and for Manawatu, Wellington and later ...

, All Black no. 952 *

Lifeimi Mafi Lifeimi Mafi (born 15 August 1982) is a Tongan-born, New Zealand former rugby union player. Career in New Zealand Born in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga, Mafi initially played his club rugby with Kia Toa (Kia Toa is a Māori term which translates to "be br ...

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Mumhan) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU's Munster B ...

* Siaosi Anamani, Manawatu Turbo * Daniel Alofa, Manawatu Turbo * Roelof 'Joggie' Viljeon, Springbok, Cape Town

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also ...

, Pretoria Bulls,

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

, Manawatu Turbo *

Stuart Ross Stuart Ross is a Canadian fiction writer, poet, editor, and creative-writing instructor. Ross was born in Toronto's north end in 1959 and grew up in the Borough of North York. He began writing at a very young age and was first published at age ...

, Manawatu Rugby Legend * Tony Mafi, Manawatu Rugby Legend Women *

Farah Palmer Dame Farah Rangikoepa Palmer (born 27 November 1972) is a professor at Massey University and a former captain of New Zealand's women's rugby union team, the Black Ferns. Youth and early career Palmer was born in Te Kuiti, New Zealand and rais ...

, New Zealand Black Ferns captain, IRB Hall Of Fame, First Woman on the Board of New Zealand Rugby, International Women's Personality of the Year * Selica Winiata, New Zealand Black Ferns, New Zealand Womans Sevens, New Zealand Rugby women's player of the year 2016 * Rebekah Cordero Tufuga, New Zealand Womans Sevens * Crystal Mayes, New Zealand Womans Sevens * Mahlia Polson, Manawatu Cyclones * Carys Dallinger, Manawatu Cyclones * Caterina Poletti, Manawatu Cyclones * Janna Michal Vaughan, Manawatu Cyclones * Jayme Nuku, Manawatu Cyclones * Marilyn Live, Manawatu Cyclones * Taylor Waterson, Manawatu Cyclones * Paige Lush, Manawatu Cyclones Foreigners * Tudor Constantin, former Romanian national, who played in France for

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

RC Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

and Bordeaux Bègles.

References

External links

* Sport in Palmerston North New Zealand rugby union teams {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-team-stub