Taranaki Rugby Union

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taranaki Rugby Football Union
Nickname(s)	The Naki
Founded	1885
Ground	Yarrow Stadium
Capacity	25,000
Chairman	Paul Easton
Coach	Kieran Crowley
Captain	Paul Tito
League	Air New Zealand Cup
2006	3rd, Repechage B
Home colours		Away colours

Taranaki Rugby Football Union (TRFU) is the governing body of Rugby in the New Zealand province of Taranaki. The main stadium is Yarrow Stadium which is in the main centre of New Plymouth.

Contents 1 History 2 Match Centurions 3 Major Sponsor 4 Jersey 5 Ranfurly Shield 6 Club Rugby 7 Representative Rugby 8 Taranaki in Super Rugby 9 Current All Blacks 10 Notable players (current and former players) 11 Taranaki All Blacks 12 All Black captains 13 External links

[edit] History

The justification for marking the year 1885 as the Formation of the Taranaki Rugby Union is based not on the fact that the Union itself was created then, but because 1885 marked the first occasion on which Taranaki placed a touring team in the field, the Union was not actually established until 1889.

On 31 May 1898 the Hawera club convened a meeting at Hawera, of delegates from the Hawera, Waimate (Manaia), New Plymouth, Okaiawa, and Eltham clubs. This meeting agreed to form the Taranaki union. During the year Stratford and Midhirst clubs united as Manganui club, Tikorangi and Waitara clubs combined as Clifton club, and Inglewood and New Plymouth Star clubs were (among others) founded and became part of the union. By the turn of the century, 11 All Blacks were produced six of whom toured Great Britain in 1905. In 1956 they held the South African tourists to a 3-3 draw.

[edit] Match Centurions

Across Taranaki rugby history 31 players have now played 100 or more matches for the Taranaki union with the latest being Paul Tito who reached the milestone in the last match of the 2006 season.

The 31 players and the details are:

Centurions

Name Career span Matches

M.R. Allen 1988 – 96 110

K.F. Barrett 1986 – 99 167

R.H. Brown 1953 – 1968 144

W.G. Bunn 1979 – 1989 109

P.S. Burke 1948 – 1959 117

C.G. Cooper 1979 – 1987 100

K.J. Crowley 1980 – 1994 200

I.M. Eliason 1964 – 1981 223

R.I. Elmes 1980 – 1982 1984 - 1989 103

K.W. Eynon 1991 – 1995, 1999 – 2000 103

I.C.A. Flavell 1956 – 1965 105

R.J. Fraser 1973 – 1982 107

A.J. Gardiner 1966 – 1975 102

K.P. Hurley 1959 – 1971 120

D.S. Loveridge 1974 – 1986 135

I.H. MacDonald 1956 – 1966 121

S.R. McDonald 1991 – 1998, 2000 116

J.T. McEldowney 1967, 1969 - 1980 125

P. Martin 1967, 1970 – 1979 125

G.N.K. Mourie 1975 – 1982 104

D.J. Murfitt 1984 – 1985 1987 – 1993 106

F.K. O’Carroll 1973 – 1983 128

T.P.A. O’Sullivan 1955 – 1959 1961 – 1966 104

B.G. Robins 1980 – 1992 147

A.W. Slater 1989 – 2001 180

G.L. Slater 1991 – 1995 1997 – 2005 176

L.J. Thomson 1983 – 1985 1987 – 1991 104

J.M. Thwaites 1969 – 1981 120

Paul Tito 1998 - 2006 100

M.G.Watts 1978 – 1985 123

M.C.Wills 1962 – 1972 131

• The primary source for this table is the official Taranaki web-site. It is worth noting that the basis of these figures is matches recognised by the Taranaki Union and not its parent body the NZ union. Two players have significant differences between the NZ union recognised figures and the Taranaki figures. Firstly, Ian Eliason's NZRFU recognised figure is 222 which gives him a share of the NZ record of most matches for a union while the Taranki figure includes a non-first class match which takes the figure to 223 which would give him the record outright. Kieran Crowley played in that same non-first class match and thus the NZRFU recognise just 199 of his matches as being first class.

[edit] Major Sponsor

The Major Sponsor for the Taranaki Rugby Team is Genesis Energy. Genesis Energy is a major power company in New Zealand. They have been the Major Sponsor since 2003. Genesis Energy Website

[edit] Jersey

The TRFU changed jersey manufacturers for Canterbury New Zealand to ISC (International Sports Clothing). With the change of the manufacturer came small, but noticeable changes to the jersey. Black side panels were added to the ISC version of the jersey also the collar was reduced to a 't-shirt' look.The New Shirt is on the left...The Old Shirt on the right Image:Taranakishirt.jpgImage:Oldtaranakijersey.jpg

[edit] Ranfurly Shield

Taranaki have held the challenge based Ranfurly Shield 4 times in 1913, 1957, 1963 and 1996.

[edit] Club Rugby

[edit] Representative Rugby

Taranaki will play in the Air New Zealand Cup in 2007. They will also challenge for the Ranfurly Shield vs North Harbour in week 2.

[edit] Taranaki in Super Rugby

Taranaki is a constituent union of the Hurricanes franchise.

[edit] Current All Blacks

Jason Eaton
Chris Masoe (moved to Wellington after 2005 season)
Andrew Hore

[edit] Notable players (current and former players)

• Paul Tito
• Mark Allen
• Andrew Hore
• Census Johnston
• Kieran Crowley
• Tony Penn
• Jared Hoeata
• Gordan Slater

[edit] Taranaki All Blacks

H L Abbott- 1905-06
L Allen - 1896-97 1901
M R Allen-1993-95-96
A Bayly - 1893-94-97
W Bayly - 1894
G E Beatty -1950
R J Boon -1960
N J G Bowden -1952
K C Briscoe -1959-60-62-63-64
C Brown -1913-20
H W Brown -1924-25-26
R H Brown -1955-56-57-58-59-61-62
P S Burke- 1951-55-57
M J Cain -1913-14
D Cameron -1908
R L Clarke -1932
M S Cockerill -1951
A H Collins -1932-34
K J Crowley -1983-84-85-86-87-90-91
W D R Currey -1968
H Dewar - 1913
J J Eaton- 2005-06
I M Eliason -1972-73
R Fogarty -1921
A J Gardiner -1974
F T Glasgow -1905-06
W S Glenn -1904-05-06
A Good 1893-
H M Good -1894
A H Hart -1924-25
P H Hickey -1922
A K Hore -2002-04-05-06
D J Hughes -1897-1901-03
A L Humphries -1897-1901
J Hunter -1905-06-07-08
D Johnston -1925
C N Kingstone -1921
A L Kivell -1929
J T Lambie -1893-94
D S Loveridge -1978-79-80-81-82-83-85
G Loveridge -1913-14
J F McCullough -1959
J T McEldowney -1976-77
J Major -1963-64-67
C M Masoe -2005-06
F H Masters -1922
H P Mills -1897
G N K Mourie- 1976-77-78-79-80-81-82
B L Muller -1967-68-69-70-71
H J Mynott -1905-07
B C O’Dowda -1901
J M O’Sullivan -1905-07
T P O’Sullivan -1960-61-62
R W Roberts -1913-14
B G Robins -1985
R A Roper -1949-50
A I Scown -1972-73
G L Slater -1997-2000
A E Smith -1967-69-70
L Stohr -1910-13
J L Sullivan -1936-37-38
R Taylor -1913
R J Urbahn -1959-60
J Walter -1925
E P Ward -1928
J D Watson -1896
M G Watts -1979-80
W J G Wells -1897
A H West -1920-21-23-24-25
M C Wills -1967
T N Wolfe -1963-68

[edit] All Black captains

Reuben Thorne is the fourth old boy from New Plymouth Boys' High School to captain the All Blacks in a test match. Just one school, Southland Boys High School has produced more - with six.

New Plymouth’s four have been:

Name	Year	Tests
A R (Ponty) Reid	1957	2 Tests
D J (John) Graham	1964	3 Tests
G N K (Graham) Mourie	1977-82	19 Tests
R D (Reuben) Thorne	2001	5 Tests

[edit] External links

• Official Site