Related Research Articles
Jonah Tali Lomu was a New Zealand rugby union player. He became the youngest ever All Black when he played his first international in 1994 at the age of 19 years and 45 days. Playing on the wing Lomu finished his international career with 63 caps and 37 tries. He is regarded as the first true global superstar of rugby and consequently had a huge impact on the game. Lomu was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame on 9 October 2007, and the IRB Hall of Fame on 24 October 2011.
The North Shore is part of the large urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, located to the north of the Waitematā Harbour. To the east, has the Hauraki Gulf, to the west, is West Auckland, to the south, has the Waitematā Harbour and Central Auckland, to the north has the Hibiscus Coast. From 1989 until 2010, North Shore City was an independent city within the Auckland Region, until it was incorporated into the Auckland Council.
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.
Wellington Harbour is a large natural harbour on the southern tip of New Zealand's North Island. New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, is located on parts of its western and southern sides. Lower Hutt is located on parts of its northern and eastern sides.
Kaipara Harbour is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex on the north western side of the North Island of New Zealand. The northern part of the harbour is administered by the Kaipara District and the southern part is administered by the Auckland Council. The local Māori tribe is Ngāti Whātua.
New Zealand Knights Football Club were the only professional association football club in New Zealand before they became defunct. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, they played in the A-League, Australia's premier football competition and have since been replaced by the Wellington Phoenix.
The North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU), commonly known as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is the governing body of rugby union that encompasses a wide geographical area north of Auckland that includes North Shore City, Rodney District, the Hibiscus Coast and part of Waitakere City. 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.
Apollo Perelini is a former dual-code international rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, and has coached in the 2000s and 2010s.
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, soccer, rugby league, and baseball are all played on the main ground. The neighbouring oval plays host to the senior cricket and Australian rules football matches. The stadium also hosts large open-air concerts.
Charles Luke McAlister 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 Charlie McAlister.
Marc Christopher Gwynne Ellis is a New Zealand businessman, television presenter, and former rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A graduate of the University of Otago, his primary business interest was in Charlie's, a juice company. During the 1995 Rugby World Cup he scored six tries in the game against Japan, which is the record for the most tries by an individual in a Rugby World Cup match.
Christopher Bradley Smylie is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the scrum-half position for Taranaki in the ITM Cup. He was born in Greater Auckland and attended Massey High School. In 2002 he made his professional debut for North Harbour against Auckland in the National Provincial Championship. Smylie then went south and had one season for the Highlanders in 2006, off the back of a hugely impressive debut season for Otago in 2005. The following year he played for the New Zealand Māori and in 2007 saw him play for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby, before debuting in 2009 for North Harbour in the Air New Zealand Cup.
James Gopperth is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays for Leicester Tigers in Premiership Rugby, England's top tier. His regular playing positions are Centre and fly-half and he has played over 400 professional games in a 19-year career, scoring over 3,800 points. He has played professionally for Wellington, North Harbour, the Hurricanes & the Blues in his native New Zealand before moving to Europe in 2009 where he played for Newcastle Falcons in Premiership Rugby and Leinster in Ireland before joining Wasps in 2015 where he played 156 games over 7 years. He joined Leicester in 2022.
The National Provincial Championship, or NPC, was the major domestic rugby competition in New Zealand. The NPC saw many alterations to its format and brand. In 2006, it was replaced by two competitions, the Air New Zealand Cup and the Heartland Championship.
Tony Dale Woodcock is a New Zealand former rugby union player. His position was loosehead prop, and he played 111 tests for the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks. Woodcock played for the All Blacks from 2002 to 2015, scoring eight test tries. He was described by The Dominion Post as "widely regarded as the world's premier loosehead", and by The New Zealand Herald as having the "best range of skills of any prop on the planet". He is now the most capped All Black prop of all time, and is the second most capped player in Blues history, behind Keven Mealamu. He was a key member of the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup winning squads, becoming one of only 20 players to have won multiple Rugby World Cups.
The Northcote Tigers are a rugby league club based in Northcote, New Zealand. The club was founded in 1910 as the Northcote Warriors though they became known as the Northcote Ramblers shortly afterwards.
Nafi Tuitavake is a New Zealand Rugby union player who plays for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in the Super rugby competition. He is the younger brother of former All Black winger Anthony Tuitavake.
Peter Robert Tyler Thorburn was a New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played his entire career as a number eight for Auckland from 1965 to 1970. He became a coach after his playing career ended, coaching domestically at first for North Harbour and the New Zealand national rugby sevens team. He later coached in England with Bristol Rugby from 2001 to 2003, before becoming interim head coach of the United States national rugby union team and guiding the side to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He was also a selector for the All Blacks.
Auckland 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 1,463,000. It is located in the greater Auckland Region—the area governed by Auckland Council—which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, and which has a total population of 1,715,600. While Europeans continue to make up the plurality of Auckland's population, the city became multicultural and cosmopolitan in the late-20th century, with Asians accounting for 31% of the city's population in 2018. With its large population of Pasifika New Zealanders, Auckland is also home to the biggest ethnic Polynesian population in the world. The Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki Makaurau, meaning "Tāmaki desired by many", in reference to the desirability of its natural resources and geography.
Andrew Ma'ilei is a rugby union footballer who plays at centre. Ma'ilei plays for Bordeaux in the Top 14. He also plays for Tonga and competed at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.