Regional rugby

The Tasman Rugby Union at the top of the South Island is New Zealand′s newest provincial union. Established in 2006, it brought together the Nelson Bays and Marlborough unions. In August 2010 Tasman claimed arguably its greatest scalp with a nailbiting 27-25 win over perennial New Zealand powerhouse, Canterbury.

Nelson was the birthplace of rugby in this country. A rugby game between Nelson Club and Nelson College on Saturday 14 May 1870 is accepted as the first played in New Zealand under rugby rules. The Nelson Rugby Union was founded in 1885. Golden Bay-Motueka was created in 1920 and merged with Nelson in 1969 to become Nelson Bays.   

The Marlborough Rugby Union was established in 1888. In 1973 Marlborough pulled off one of the greatest Ranfurly Shield upsets by defeating Canterbury 13–6 to begin the region’s only shield tenure.

Nelson Bays amalgamated with neighbouring Marlborough following the restructuring of New Zealand’s provincial championship in 2006. The combined team (marketed as the Makos) has competed with credit in the ITM Cup, winning the second-tier championship competition – and promotion to the premiership – in 2013. Nelson Bays and Marlborough, now sub-unions of the Tasman Rugby Union, continue to compete separately with Buller and West Coast for the Seddon Shield.

Tasman, along with West Coast, Buller, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury and Canterbury is part of the Crusaders Super rugby franchise, which has won more Super rugby titles than any other. Thanks to this link a number of All Blacks have been loaned to Tasman to bolster its playing strength, including Chris Jack, propping brothers Owen and Ben Franks, and Rico Gear.

At the start of the 2015 season, Robbie Malneek had played a record 93 games for Tasman, while Marty Banks had scored 343 points.

In the beginning…