The North vs South match, sometimes known as the Interisland match was a longstanding

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

fixture 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 ...

between the North Island and South Island teams. The first match was played on 30 June 1897 at Wellington's Athletic Park, and the match became an annual fixture from 1902. Matches ceased during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

from 1915 to 1918, but during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

only the 1940, 1941 and 1942 matches were cancelled, with competition resuming in 1943. The last annual match on regular basis was played in 1986. In 2012, a one-off match at Dunedin's

Forsyth Barr Stadium The Forsyth Barr Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. At various stages of development it was also known as Dunedin Stadium or Awatea Street Stadium, or its non-commercial official name during the 2011 Rugby World Cup an ...

in 2012 to help fundraise for the financially troubled

Otago Rugby Football Union The Otago Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union for the Otago region of New Zealand. The union is based in the city of Dunedin, and its home ground is Forsyth Barr Stadium. The top representative team competes in ...

, which was won by the South 32–24. A second one-off match was initially scheduled to be held on 29 August 2020, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

restrictions, it was postponed to 5 September 2020. Most early matches were played in one of the four main cities (Auckland and Wellington in the North Island, Christchurch and Dunedin in the South Island), but from 1970 onwards the fixture was rotated around a number of provincial centres.

Colours

In the very first match in 1897, the North Island wore yellow and black jerseys while the South Island team wore all black. Since 1904 the North Island traditionally played in black jerseys and black shorts, while the South Island played in white jerseys with white shorts.

List of results

Overall

References

* Lambert, M. and Palenski, R. ''4th Air New Zealand Almanac'', Moa Alamanac Press 1985.

Notes

{{Top-level rugby union club competitions Rugby union competitions in New Zealand 1897 establishments in New Zealand Rugby union rivalries in New Zealand Recurring sporting events established in 1897