The North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU), commonly known as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is the governing body of rugby union that encompasses a wide geographical area north of Auckland that includes North Shore City, Rodney District, the Hibiscus Coast and part of Waitakere City. There are 12 rugby clubs from Mahurangi RFC, based in Warkworth, Rodney District, in the north through to Massey the southernmost area of the union. The NHRU provincial rugby team that was formed in 1985 by clubs that left the Auckland Rugby Union. It competes in the Mitre 10 Cup, the successor to New Zealand's former domestic competition, the National Provincial Championship (NPC).

History

North Harbour was formed in 1985 by clubs that broke away from the Auckland Rugby Union. The Hibiscus flower was chosen as the new union's logo in reference to part of the union's catchment area - the Hibiscus Coast. The first side chosen to represent the union was an under 20 side who played Felbridge, a touring side from Britain. Grant Ferguson had the honour of scoring the union's first points via a penalty, with his captain, Alan McCulloch scoring the union's first try. The union expanded in 1989 when the Omaha, Warkworth and Kaipara Flats clubs merged to become the Mahurangi club and switched from the North Auckland union. North Harbour has enjoyed a great deal of success on the rugby field having produced All Blacks and other New Zealand Representative players, and also winning the 3rd division title in their first year, then promotion to NPC Division 1, and making the finals of the NPC competition on several occasions during the 1990s, including hosting the 1994 final at a capacity-crowd Onewa Domain against Auckland and qualifying for the Super 10 competition in 1993, 1994 and 1995. Harbour rugby logo

Onewa Domain, Northcote was the former home base for North Harbour rugby. North Harbour players play in the

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 ...

competition as part of the

Auckland Blues The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by ...

partnership with the neighbouring Northland and Auckland unions. With the development of the North Harbour Stadium at Albany in the late 1990s, this stadium became the home base of Harbour rugby. North Harbour play in the Mitre 10 Cup. In 2006 North Harbour were the first team to play the new Tasman Makos winning 33–27 in Blenheim. They would go on to win their next eight of ten games including an historical victory over Canterbury for the Ranfurly Shield. However they were beaten by Otago 21–56 in the quarter finals. 2007 was a year of disappointment for North Harbour. Waikato claimed the Ranfurly Shield with a crushing 52–7 over the holders North Harbour. The team would only win four of ten matches including two draws to miss the playoffs. North Harbour won only three matches in 2008 finishing 12th. 2009 was the same with North Harbour finishing 12th, however they defeated the champions Canterbury 22–19 in the opening round and beat Auckland 16–14 at Eden Park. In 2010 North Harbour beat Japan 23–19 to start their 25th Jubilee Celebrations. However the team managed only four wins to finish 11th. In 2011 the team finished 6th in the Championship, but nearly beat Southland 23–25 in a Ranfurly Challenge. 2012 and 2013 were disappointing years for North Harbour finishing last in the Championship with only one win to their seasons. 2014 was downfall for North Harbour, as they only won 3 games, against Manawatu (24-13), Canterbury (29-24) and Hawkes Bay (28-25) 2015 seemed the same for North Harbour, they won 3 games again, against Southland (26-25), Counties Manukau (28-20) and Northland (36-12) 2016 saw North Harbour get promoted up from the Championship division, beating Counties Manukau (20-17), Manawatu (29-25), Southland (35-14), Bay of Plenty (44-34), and Northland (44-28),They defeated Wellington in the semi final (40-37) and defeating Otago to be promoted to the 2017 Premiership (17-14) In 2017, North Harbour won a lot of their games, beating Otago (19-17), Southland (45-20), their greatest Battle of the Bridge win against Auckland (57-10), Counties Manukau (27-18), Northland (22-31), Hawke's Bay (33-30), Waikato (13-11), They made the semi finals but did not beat Canterbury (35-24 loss) 2018 saw North Harbour beat Northland (21-20), Waikato (28-29), Bay of Plenty (32-30), Hawke's Bay (34-51), Taranaki (26-55), Counties Manukau (36-26).

Ranfurly Shield

North Harbour's first ten challenges for the Ranfurly Shield were unsuccessful, notably in 1996 when they challenged for it three times in 6 weeks against Taranaki, Waikato and Auckland. North Harbour succeeded in their eleventh challenge for the shield on 24 September 2006 by beating the previous holders Canterbury 21–17 at Jade Stadium in Christchurch. Under the rules of the Shield challenge, they had to defend the Shield before the

2007 Air New Zealand Cup The 2007 Air New Zealand Cup was a provincial rugby union competition involving 14 teams from New Zealand. Matches started on Thursday 26 July 2007, and the Final, in which Auckland defeated Wellington, was held on Saturday 20 October. This s ...

season against teams in New Zealand's second tier domestic competition, the semi-professional Heartland Championship. Accordingly, they scheduled defences against Thames Valley on 30 June 2007 and Horowhenua-Kapiti on 14 July. Harbour easily won their first defence 69–0 over Thames Valley, and followed it up two weeks later with a 99–6 victory over Horowhenua-Kapiti. After defeating Taranaki 19–13 in their first challenge in the Air New Zealand Cup, North Harbour lost the Ranfurly Shield to Waikato by a record margin of 52–7.

North Harbour in Super Rugby

North Harbour is one of three provinces included in the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

franchise who play in the

competition; their players are eligible to be picked by the Blues without relying on ''player drafting''. At the beginning of Super Rugby, North Harbour was part of the Chiefs franchise as a combined team of Auckland and North Harbour was thought to be unfair by the NZRU; Auckland and North Harbour collectively had a large percentage of the All Blacks of the time. Later however, North Harbour along with Northland were 'swapped' for Counties Manukau and Thames Valley, thus joined the Blues. Prior to the professionalisation of rugby, North Harbour competed as a stand-alone union in the predecessor to Super Rugby, the Super 10 competition, in 1993, 1994 and 1995.

Club and high-school rugby

The

North Harbour Club Rugby The North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU), commonly known as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is the governing body of rugby union that encompasses a wide geographical area north of Auckland that includes North Shore City, Rodney (district), New Zea ...

season runs annually from March through to the beginning of August. The premier title is fought for among senior teams for the right to be crowned North Harbour Club Rugby Champions. The winner receives the ASB Cup. There are also 16 secondary schools fielding close to 100 teams within the North Harbour Region. Due to the ratio of secondary schools to rugby clubs, there is a strong relationship between the two.

Member clubs

* Mahurangi * Silverdale * Helensville
Kumeu (Riverhead)
* Massey
East Coast Bays RFC
* Glenfield * Northcote * Takapuna *

North Shore North Shore or Northshore may refer to: Geographic features Australia *North Shore (Sydney), a suburban region of Sydney **Electoral district of North Shore **North Shore railway line, Sydney *Noosa North Shore, Queensland * North Shore, New So ...

* Marist * Royal New Zealand Navy

Club Champions

''For list of North Harbour club rugby champions, see'' North Harbour Club Rugby Champions

Bunnings NPC

Former players

These are players who have played for North Harbour in the past and have gone on to play international rugby and accomplish other feats as listed: * Todd Clever ( USA Eagles captain) *

Liam Barry Liam John Barry (born 15 March 1971) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former rugby union player. He is the assistant coach of New Zealand men's sevens team. He has previously been the assistant coach the Auckland Blues, Blues and head coac ...

(former All Black, former Harbour Head Coach) * Richard Turner(former All Black) * Frano Botica (former All Black, former Kiwi League International and former

Croatian Croatian may refer to: * Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * S ...

International) * Frank Bunce (former All Black, Western Samoa centre, New Zealand Sevens) *Daniel Devereaux (former Cook Island half back) * Graham Dowd (former All Black hooker) * Nick Evans (former All Black, rumoured to move to North Harbour but moved to Auckland instead, now playing for Harlequins in England * Rico Gear (former All Black, now plays for Worcester Warriors) * Hosea Gear (now plays for Wellington) * Ian Jones (former All Black Lock) *

Blair Larsen Blair Peter Larsen (born 20 January 1969) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A lock and flanker, Larsen represented North Harbour and Northland at a provincial level and the in Super Rugby. He was a member of the New Zealand nationa ...

(former All Black forward) * Walter Little (former All Black second-five eight) * Jonah Lomu (former All Black wing, moved to Wellington, left Wellington due to illness and eventual kidney transplant) *

Willie Los'e William Keith Los'e (22 July 1967 – 7 September 2022) was a n rugby union player who played as a lock. After retiring from playing, he worked as a radio host and TV commentator. Early life Los'e was born on 22 July 1967, the son of Kuini a ...

(former Tongan international team captain and lock, now a TV & Radio personality) * Slade McFarland * Glen Osborne (former All Black fullback and Makakaho Rd Pig Hunting World Champion and rugby sevens commentator) * Eric Rush (former All Black winger and Captain of NZ 7s * Buck Shelford (former All Black captain and former North Harbour coach) *

Silao Leaega Silao Leaegailesolo, shortened as Leaega (born 24 June 1973, in Apia) is a former Samoan rugby union player and now coach. He played as a wing. Career He first started to play for Samoa during a match against Tonga, at Apia, on 28 June 1997. He ...

- Samoan International *

Tevita Taumoepeau Tevita Taumoepeau (born 16 May 1974) is a former Tongan international rugby union player. The final club he played for was Worcester Warriors in the Aviva Premiership. He played as a tighthead prop Career Taumoepeau joined Worcester during t ...

Rua Tipoki Te Rua Reihana Tipoki (born 11 August 1975 in Te Puia Springs, New Zealand) brought up in Te Araroa in Gisborne, is a rugby union player who captained North Harbour to Ranfurly Shield victory in 2006. Tipoki played for a wide variety of teams ...

(Captain 2005–06; first ever North Harbour captain to win Ranfurly Shield) *

Tusi Pisi ''Tusi'', often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain e ...

& George Pisi – Samoan internationals * Mike Harris (moved to Australia in 2011 and played for the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels in the

competition and was capped ten times for the Qantas Wallabies. Now plays for

Lyons Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

in France. *

Francis Saili Francis Saili (born 16 February 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player, currently playing for French club Biarritz. He plays primarily as a centre, though he can also play wing. He is the younger brother of Blues loose forward Peter Saili. ...

(former All Black second-five eight) * Luke McAlister (former All Black and currently playing for

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () ( oc, Estadi Tolosenc), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulou ...

) * Tony Woodcock (former All Black Two-time Rugby World Cup winner, scorer of only NZ try in 2011 final – most capped All Black prop)

Mascot

The Harbour Master is the official Mascot for the North Harbour Rugby Union, He is dressed in a naval captain's style suit with a large smiling head and carries with him at all times an oversized pair of binoculars. ''2010 ITM Cup Appearances'' * Harbour Vs Auckland 01/08 (Albany) * Harbour Vs Otago 19/08 (Albany) * Harbour Vs Waikato 04/09 (Albany) * Harbour Vs Manawatu 26/09 (Albany) * Harbour Vs Wellington 10/10 (Albany) ''2010 Television Appearances'' * This Given Sunday 12/09 (Rugby Channel – Sky TV, NZ) ''Facts'' * In 2008 The Harbour Master was involved in a tackle which resulted in the rival seagull mascot from Auckland breaking his leg. * Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpHkT27mVMU * Photo http://www.harbourrugby.co.nz/mainmenu1/component/gallery/g98/QBE+Insurance+North+Harbour+vs.+Waikato+Sat+4+Sept/p899.html

Kit and sponsors

Apparel is supplied by

Paladin Sports The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers, are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, where ...

. Main sponsors are: * QBE Insurance * Jett's Fitness Centre * Valspar * North Harbour Ford & Mazda * Benefitz * Ritchies Coachlines * Pure Blonde (Lion)

References

External links

Official website

Facebook page
{{Sport in Auckland New Zealand rugby union teams New Zealand rugby union governing bodies Rugby union in the Auckland Region Sports organizations established in 1985 1985 establishments in New Zealand