The North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU), commonly known as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is the governing body of

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 ...

that encompasses a wide geographical area north of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

that includes

North Shore City North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

Rodney District Rodney District was a local government area in the northernmost part of New Zealand's Auckland Region from 1989 to 2010. It included Kawau Island. It was created from the amalgamation of Helensville Borough and Rodney County in 1989. The seat ...

, the

Hibiscus Coast The Hibiscus Coast is a populated area on a stretch of the Hauraki Gulf coast in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It has a population of making it the 11th most populous urban area in New Zealand, and the second most populous in the Auckland Re ...

and part of

Waitakere City Waitākere City was a territorial authority in West Auckland, New Zealand; it was governed by the Waitākere City Council from 1989 to 2010. It was New Zealand's fifth-largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%. In 2010 the council was ...

. 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 The Auckland Rugby Union is a New Zealand provincial rugby union. The union was established in 1883 and was originally responsible for the administration of the sport in most of the former Auckland Province, although its boundaries have since ...

. It competes in the

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...

, 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

. The

Hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...

flower was chosen as the new union's logo in reference to part of the union's catchment area - the

. 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 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, ...

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

unions. With the development of the

North Harbour Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are ...

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 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 challen ...

were unsuccessful, notably in 1996 when they challenged for it three times in 6 weeks against

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

and

. 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 Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. 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 The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...

. Accordingly, they scheduled defences against

Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an informally-defined sub-region of South East England, centred on the River Thames west of London, with Oxford as a major centre. Its boundaries vary with context. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub, ...

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

19–13 in their first challenge in the Air New Zealand Cup, North Harbour lost the Ranfurly Shield to

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 ...

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 The Super 10 was a rugby union football tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga, and Western Samoa. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, ...

competition, in 1993, 1994 and 1995.

Club and high-school rugby

The North Harbour Club Rugby 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 Massey may refer to: Places Canada * Massey, Ontario * Massey Island, Nunavut New Zealand * Massey, New Zealand, an Auckland suburb United States * Massey, Alabama * Massey, Iowa * Massey, Maryland People * Massey (surname) Educatio ...

East Coast Bays RFC
* Glenfield * Northcote *

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

* North Shore * 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 The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Stat ...

captain) * Liam Barry (former

All Black 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, ...

, former Harbour Head Coach) * Richard Turner(former

) * Frano Botica (former

, former Kiwi League International and former Croatian International) *

Frank Bunce Frank Eneri Bunce (born 4 February 1962) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played international rugby for both Western Samoa and New Zealand in the 1990s, appearing in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups. He played in four int ...

(former

, Western Samoa centre, New Zealand Sevens) *Daniel Devereaux (former Cook Island half back) * Graham Dowd (former

hooker) * Nick Evans (former

, rumoured to move to North Harbour but moved to Auckland instead, now playing for Harlequins in England * Rico Gear (former

, now plays for

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...

) * Hosea Gear (now plays for Wellington) * Ian Jones (former

Lock) * Blair Larsen (former

forward) * Walter Little (former

second-five eight) *

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...

(former

wing, moved to Wellington, left Wellington due to illness and eventual

kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplant ...

) * Willie Los'e (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 Eric James Rush (born 11 February 1965 in Kaeo) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and rugby sevens legend, and now a supermarket owner. His New Zealand Sevens career began in 1988 and ran until past his 39th birthday in 2004. Ru ...

(former

winger and Captain of NZ 7s *

Buck Shelford Sir Wayne Thomas "Buck" Shelford (born 13 December 1957) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer and coach who represented and captained New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand (the All Blacks) in the late 1980s. He is also cre ...

(former

captain and former North Harbour coach) * Silao Leaega - Samoan International *

Tevita Taumoepeau Tevita Taumoepeau (born 16 May 1974) is a former Tongan Tonga national rugby union team, international rugby union player. The final club he played for was Worcester Warriors in the Aviva Premiership. He played as a Rugby union positions#1. Loo ...

* Rua Tipoki (Captain 2005–06; first ever North Harbour captain to win

) * Tusi Pisi &

George Pisi George Pisi (born 29 June 1986 in Apia, Samoa) is a rugby union player for Samoa who will leave his current club Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership at the conclusion of the 2016/17 season. Pisi was born in Samoa but moved to Auckland in ...

– Samoan internationals *

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

(moved to Australia in 2011 and played for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

and

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

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

second-five eight) *

Luke McAlister Charles Luke McAlister (born 28 August 1983 in Waitara) is a New Zealand rugby union footballer. He plays at fly-half and at centre. He is the brother of New Zealand women's sevens player Kayla McAlister and son of rugby league footballer Char ...

(former

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

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 QBE Insurance Group Limited is a general insurance and reinsurance company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and headquartered in Sydney. The company employs more than 11,700 people in over 27 countries. Across its operations, QBE offe ...

* Jett's Fitness Centre * Valspar * North Harbour Ford & Mazda * Benefitz * Ritchies Coachlines *

Pure Blonde Pure Blonde is a brand of low carb beer and cider produced in Australia. the brand is marketed internationally by Lion (Australasian company), Lion. Styles there are three Pure Blonde drinks marketed in Australia: Pure Blonde Organic Lager; ...

(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