The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb Ellis Cup, named after William Webb Ellis, who according to a popular legend, invented rugby by picking up the ball during a football game.
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, 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, 2011 and 2015. They were the first country to win the Rugby World Cup 3 times.
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 Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 countries: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. At its peak the tournament featured the top players from nations representing 16 of the 24 top-three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 and beyond will only include Oceanian clubs representing Australia, New Zealand and from the Pacific islands.
The National Provincial Championship (NPC), known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings NPC, is a professional rugby union competition for New Zealand provincial unions consisting of 14 teams, divided equally into two divisions based on the previous years finish. The NPC remains the second highest level of professional rugby union in New Zealand, after Super Rugby. The NPC's 12-week regular and finals season runs from August to October, with each team playing 10 games(5 home and 5 away), and having one week playing twice. Following the conclusion of the regular season, four teams from each division advance to a combined quarter finals, semi finals and a grand final.
The Wales national rugby union team represents Wales in men's international rugby union. Its governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. The team plays its home matches at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, which replaced Cardiff Arms Park as the national stadium of Wales in 1999.
Richard Hugh McCaw is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby player of the year award a joint record three times and was the most capped test rugby player of all time from August 2015 to October 2020. McCaw was awarded World Rugby player of the decade (2011–2020) in 2021. McCaw is also a winner of the New Zealand sportsman of the decade award, the highest sporting honour a sports individual can achieve in New Zealand.
Daniel William Carter is a retired New Zealand rugby union player.
Sonny Bill Williams is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the country in rugby league, and is one of only 21 players to have won the Rugby World Cup twice.
Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and girls' schools, with the current school opened in February 1955. Its sister school is Hamilton Girls' High School. The school crest features a lion, sash and star, and bears the motto "Sapiens Fortunam Fingit Sibi" which translates to "a wise man carves his own fortune". The school colours are black and red.
The New Zealand National Women's Rugby Union Team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in Women's Rugby Union, which is regarded as the country's National Sport.The team has won five of the past six Women's Rugby World Cups.
Keven Filipo Mealamu is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played at hooker for the Blues in Super Rugby, Auckland in the National Provincial Championship, and the New Zealand national team. He was a key member of 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup winning teams, becoming one of only 21 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions.
Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. The mens national team, the All Blacks, is currently ranked the fourth best international rugby team in the world, after (3) South Africa, (2) France and (1)Ireland. The sport has been known in New Zealand since 1870. The top domestic competitions are the semi-professional Mitre 10 Cup and amateur Heartland Championship, and above them Super Rugby, in which New Zealand has five franchises. The country co-hosted and won the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987, and hosted and won the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The men have won three World Cups, tied with South Africa, the most of any other country. They are also the current World Champions in 7s rugby for men and women.
The Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Football Union is a constituent union in the New Zealand Rugby Union. It is located on the East Coast of the North Island, based in Ruatoria. It is the smallest Union in New Zealand in the sense of player numbers and population base. Due to the high number of players from the Ngati Porou iwi, the team is often referred to as Ngati Porou East Coast.
Kurt Baker is a New Zealand rugby union player, who currently plays as a fullback or wing for Hawke's Bay in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup competition. He is a New Zealand Sevens representative, who has played in 43 World Rugby Sevens Series tournaments and has won two Rugby Sevens World Cup titles and two Gold medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games. He has also played for the Māori All Blacks.
The first clash in Rugby Union between Australia and New Zealand took place in a test match on 15 August 1903 in Sydney, New South Wales. On that occasion, New Zealand won 22–3.
Joseph Paul Tamatea Moody is a New Zealand rugby union footballer who plays as a prop for the Crusaders in Super Rugby and Canterbury in the ITM Cup. He made his debut for New Zealand in 2014 and has since won 46 international caps.
Kendra Margaret Cocksedge is a New Zealand rugby union player and cricketer. She plays for the New Zealand women's national rugby union side, the Black Ferns and for Canterbury provincially. She was a member of the 2010 and 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup winning squads. In 2018 she won the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year Award at the annual New Zealand Rugby awards.
Akira Ioane is a New Zealand rugby union player. Ioane plays blindside flanker and number 8 for the Auckland rugby union team in the Mitre 10 Cup, for the Blues in the Super Rugby competition and was selected for the All Blacks in 2017, having previously represented New Zealand internationally in Sevens and the Māori All Blacks.
Portia Woodman is a New Zealand rugby union player. She plays fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby union, and is a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team and New Zealand Women's National Rugby Union team. Woodman was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team when they won a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Sean Wainui was a New Zealand rugby union player. He played on the wing for provincial side Bay of Plenty, the Chiefs in Super Rugby, and for New Zealand's Māori international side the Māori All Blacks.
