Our History

The Foundation And The Earliest Days

Members of the armed constabulary had formed what they referred to as a rugby club, at Ormond in 1876 but the first officially recognized club in the district was the Gisborne Football club of 1878 Initially, home-and-away games were arranged with the Napier Club – when matches were endless gladiatorial mauling contests and tries registered 2 points – but these had to be discontinued when the Hawkes Bay Rugby Union was formed in 1884. However, once the Gisborne club decided to adhere to the rules of the English Rugby Union it was joined by the formation of the Union Club in 1886 and the 1888 Rover Club in games played on ‘Tucker’s Paddock.”

 

Two years later, the Gisborne Club and the Rover Club had been supplanted by the Poverty Bay and Turanganui Clubs and had been further joined by Waimata and Waerenga-a-hika. On 30 August 1890 a meeting of 40 delegates from these clubs, at the Masonic Hotel, agreed to adopt the Auckland Rugby Union rules and the Poverty Bay Rugby Union was formed, with Capt. W.H.Tucker as President. Affiliation with the NZRU, one year after the founding of that national body, followed in 1893. That was also the year that the Poverty Bay Representative team had its first win, 15-4 over Hawkes Bay, at Napier.

The next year,1894, saw a 6-6 draw with Hawkes Bay and a 6-19 loss against a Wellington team led by the famous “Offside” McKenzie and containing six other current or later All Blacks. The game was played in the morning while the north-bound steamer was unloading in the roadstead. Poverty Bay’s leading player, James Poynter, became the first Poverty Bay player to receive national recognition when he was later selected for the first North Island XV ever assembled and which succeeded 15-3 over the team from the colony of NSW – the first overseas team to tour New Zealand.

Please check back as we highlight each year, who played, results, statistics and more….

Click year (in bold) for more details:

eg: 2016

News_Articles 1890/1933 Pre_NPC 1934/75 NPC 1976-2005 Heartland 2006-17
THE FIRST YEARS 1878-1889					1890	1891
1892	1893	1894	1895	1896	1897	1898
1899	1900	1902	1902	1903	1904	1905
1906	1907	1908	1909	1910	1911	1912
1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919
1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926
1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933
1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940
1941-42			1943-44		1945	1946
1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953
1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960
1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967
1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974
1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988
1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995
1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023

Union Records ( As at March 2018 )
Highest Attendance	15,000	Poverty Bay-East Coast v British Isles, 1971
Most Appearances	153*	S.T. (Sione) Ngatu, 2003–2017 (includes 4 matches not recorded)
Most Points	791	S.C. Leighton, 2004–12
Most Tries	35	P.S.R. Ransley, 1961-74
Most Points in a Season	144	S.C. Leighton, 2007
Most Tries in a Season	11	J. Moeke, 1997; J. Stewart, 2010,2011
Most.Conversions.in.a.Season	30	S.C. Leighton, 2007
Most Penalties in a Season	27	D.M.Boyle, 1999
Most.Dropped.Goals.in.a.Season	3	G.B. Ross, 1976 ; J. Whittle, 1979
Most Points in a Match	35	S.C. Leighton, v Thames Valley, 2007
Most Tries in a Match	4	J.L. Penny v Olympians Club, 1953
		K.A. Twigley v East Coast, 1966
		I.A. Kirkpatrick v East Coast, 1971
		K.D. Ferris v East Coast, 1983
		A.B. Hansen v North Otago, 1987
Most Conversions in a Match	9	R.P. Owen v East Coast, 1983
Most Penalty Goals in a Match	7	S.P.Parkes v Buller, 2013
Highest.Team.Score	75	v East Coast, 1980
Record Victory (Pts Ahead)	75	75-0 v East Coast, 1980
Highest Score Conceded	121	v Waikato, 1998
Record Defeat (Pts Behind)	121	0-121 v Waikato, 1998

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Table Below : Opposition team totals are their totals 
(IE: their wins are POVERTY BAY losses ; their losses are POVERTY BAY wins.)

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All Results: Click Date for Match Details / Click Opposition for Historical Results

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