New Zealand Rugby

New Zealand rugby teams, traditions, and the Rugby World Cup 2011

Rugby is almost like a religion unto itself in New Zealand and often tends to be the one thing you can talk about with locals anywhere around the country, from the major urban centres through to the isolated farms.

If you learn a little about rugby in New Zealand, you'll never be short of something to discuss with locals.

This page provides a quick rundown of the different levels at which rugby is played in New Zealand along with a little bit of history for both men’s and women’s rugby.

The Rugby World Cup 2011

The RWC 2011 Final at Eden Park in Auckland on October 23rd 2011 was won by the New Zealand All Blacks!

The 2011 Rugby World Cup was hosted by New Zealand for the first time since 1987.

There was a lot of pride riding on winning the 2011 World Cup on home soil and it has been an incredibly big deal to most New Zealanders. I'm sure this has been the biggest sporting event New Zealand has seen to date.

The All Blacks

The All Blacks are the jewel in the crown of NZ rugby - the national New Zealand rugby team. The name, of course, comes from the uniform - the team wears all black, apart from the small silver fern symbol on the New Zealand rugby shirt. The silver fern is a plant native to NZ and it has come to represent all of New Zealand's sporting endeavors.

Women's Rugby

While many tourists know about the All Blacks, the women's rugby team, the Black Ferns, is less well-known - but certainly no less successful. In fact, in their own competitions they've been even more successful than the All Blacks, having won four successive World Cup titles (1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010), and have only lost three times in international play since 1989.

Provincial Rugby

While many people play rugby at a club level, provincial rugby is the lowest level which is televised and “taken seriously” by large numbers of people. Rather than representing cities, teams represent their province - such as Auckland, Canterbury, or Otago. This level is more amateur than the others, and players tend to play for their region of origin or where they live.

Super Rugby

Super 15 Rugby is a competition that spans Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. While these teams also bear provincial names, they're not the same as those competing in provincial matches. Super Rugby is more professional and players are more likely to switch to another team for a better contract. For the most up to date information about the New Zealand teams in the competition visit the superxv.com site.

Maori Rugby Timeline

New Zealand History Online compiled a timeline running from 1870 to present day covering the events and players through Maori rugby history. Visit the Maori Rugby Timeline.

Rugby World Cups

New Zealand won their first World Cup in 1987 (when it was jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia). They didn’t make the final in 1991, and in 1995 they experienced a heart-breaking defeat in the final against South Africa in the last moments of extra time.

Since then, the All Blacks’ World Cup campaigns have been plagued with problems. The 1999 campaign ended with a semi-final loss to France. 2003 saw them lose to Australia in the semi-final, and in 2007 they were again knocked out by the French - this time in the quarter-finals.

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