The South Canterbury Rugby Football Union (SCRFU) is a rugby province based in the central South Island city of

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

, New Zealand. The South Canterbury team play at Fraser Park located in Timaru.

History

Club rugby in South Canterbury predated the formation of South Canterbury RFU by at least two decades. The first recorded club rugby match in South Canterbury was played on 15 October 1867 between The Timaru and Temuka Clubs at Arowhenua. Eight years later, in 1875, the South Canterbury Football Club was formed, founded by Alfred St. George Hamersley the former captain of the England national rugby union team and resident of Timaru. Soon after on 24 May 1875 a match was played between North and South Canterbury at Ashburton that resulted in a draw. More clubs were formed, such as the Waimate Football Club on 24 May 1876, and Christchurch are recorded as playing Temuka in 1876. On 26 July 1879, a meeting was held in

at the instigation again of Hamersley, at which delegates representing the clubs Christchurch, Christ's College, Temuka, North Canterbury (Rangiora), Eastern (Christchurch), South Canterbury (Timaru), Ashburton, and Southbridge agreed to form the

Canterbury Rugby Football Union The Canterbury Rugby Football Union (also referred to as "Canterbury" or "CRFU") is the governing body for rugby union in a portion of the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Its colours are red and black in a hooped design. The CRFU govern the ...

. The South Canterbury Rugby Football Union (SCRFU) was formed in 1888 when it broke away from the

. A meeting of delegates from football clubs in South Canterbury was held at the office of ''"Messrs Hamersley and Wood, Timaru, to consider the advisability of forming a Rugby Football Union in the district."'' Once again, Hamersley was involved in a pivotal point in the history of rugby in the region and his role was commemorated in 2010 with the introduction of the Hamersley trophy, a 186 cm tall silver trophy, for the winners of the senior rugby competition (the Personnel Placements club rugby championship). This meeting was attended by delegates from the South Canterbury, Pirates, Temuka, Waimate, Geraldine, Winchester and Fairlie Creek clubs and as a result of the union the South Canterbury club agreed to change its name to the Timaru Club. Formal association with the Canterbury RFU was broken and it was established that the boundaries of the South Canterbury union were to be the Rangitata and Waitaki rivers, and the headquarters was Timaru. Soon after, a representative match was played on 24 July 1888 against the New Zealand Native Team on the Athletic Grounds, Timaru. South Canterbury has produced a number of All Blacks and are one of the few unions to have played in all three Divisions of the NPC. South Canterbury has also had some notable victories over touring international sides including the 1961 French team. In 2011 the South Canterbury Heartland team played the 2011 Russian World Cup team who toured New Zealand before the 2011 Rugby World Cup at Fraser Park. Also 2011 saw two sell out Super 15 games played at Fraser Park in Timaru - the Crusaders vs the Bulls and Crusaders vs The Blues.

Representative Rugby

The South Canterbury Rugby team play from Fraser Park,

and they play their rugby in the

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 ...

. They also compete against

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

North Otago North Otago in New Zealand covers the area of Otago between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre for astronomy and for glid ...

for the Hanan Shield.

South Canterbury in Super Rugby

South Canterbury along with

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a 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. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, Tasman, Buller,

and West Coast 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 franchise.

Championships

South Canterbury won the 2nd division South Island in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, 1981 and the 3rd division in 1986, 1991, 1998, and in 2001. And the Lochore Cup in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Heartland Championship placings

Sevens South Canterbury hosted the 2010 and 2011 South Island Sevens Tournament at Fraser Park in

, A Provincial qualifier to the New Zealand National Rugby Sevens Tournament in Queenstown South Canterbury has qualified and competed at a number of New Zealand National Rugby Sevens Tournament the last been in 2011.

Ranfurly Shield

South Canterbury has 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 ...

twice, in 1950 and 1974.

1950

Matches played: *Sth Canterbury 17 vs

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

14, Masterton, * North Auckland 20 vs Sth Canterbury 9, Timaru, Team members: *Coach: Brushy Mitchell (centre, second row) *Captain: Morrie Goddard (third from left) *Vice Captain: Lachie Grant (third from right)

1974

Matches played: *Sth Canterbury 18 vs Marlborough 6, Blenheim on 17 August *Sth Canterbury 9 vs

3, Timaru on 31 August *

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

9 vs Sth Canterbury 3, Timaru on 3 September Team members: *Captain: Ken Milne

Hanan Shield

The Hanan Shield is one of the most prestigious trophies in New Zealand's domestic

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 ...

competition. First played for in 1946, the Hanan Shield is based on a challenge system played between

, South Canterbury and

. South Canterbury are the current holders of the Shield after beating Mid Canterbury 17–15 on 13 October 2012.

International Victories

Victories by South Canterbury versus International Tourists; France 1961, California 1972, Romania 1975, Japan 1979, Tonga 1983.

Club Rugby

Current Clubs

South Canterbury Rugby Football Union is made up of nine clubs: * Timaru Celtic RFC * Geraldine RFC * Harlequins RFC (Amalgamation of Zingari and Star in 1998) * Mackenzie RFC * Old Boys RFC * Pareora RFC * Pleasant Point RFC * Temuka RFC * Waimate RFC

Club Championship Winners

Total Championships By Club

High School Rugby

* Timaru Boys' High School and Roncalli College 1st XV play in the Crusaders Region Secondary Schools' Rugby Championship "The Press Cup"

Notable players

All Blacks

There have been 22 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 South Canterbury. Name, All Black No. & Year: * John H. Gardner, No.25, 1893 * Charles N. MacIntosh, No.39, 1893 * David Stewart, No.54, 1894 * Alfred Budd, No.160, 1910 * Thomas W. Lynch, No.177, 1913 * Augustine P. Spillane, No.200, 1913 * Eric Cockroft, No.203, 1913 * Percival W. Storey, No.224, 1920 * Ronald T. Stewart, No.288, 1923 * Gordon P. Lawson, No.320, 1925 * Archie Strang, No.342, 1928 * Thomas C. Metcalfe, No.384, 1931 * George T. A. Adkins, No.409, 1935 * Tom Morrison, No.441, 1938 * Charles Saxton, No.443, 1938 * Maurice P. Goddard, No.467, 1946 * Lachlan A. Grant, No.471, 1947 * John W. Goddard, No.499, 1949 * Thomas Coughlan, No.592, 1958 * Allan J. Stewart, No.638, 1963 * Tom N. Lister, No.673, 1968 * Lyn Jaffray, No.711, 1972 To view player profile, go t
allblacks.com

Super 12/14

* Brendan Laney

Otago Highlanders The Highlanders (formerly the Otago Highlanders) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 compet ...

Graham Dempster Graham Dempster (born 14 January 1955) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1970s. Recruited from Victorian Football Association (VFA) club Springvale, Demps ...

Canterbury Crusaders The Crusaders (formerly Canterbury Crusaders and BNZ Crusaders due to sponsorship by the Bank of New Zealand) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch, who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They are the mos ...

References

External links

NZrugbynet
Official Website
SCRFU.co.nz
{{Rugby union in New Zealand New Zealand rugby union teams New Zealand rugby union governing bodies Sport in Canterbury, New Zealand Sports organizations established in 1888 1888 establishments in New Zealand