This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Wellington Rugby Football Union is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
 |
||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Wellington Lions | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1879 | |||||||||||||
| Region | Hurricanes | |||||||||||||
| Ground(s) | Westpac Stadium | |||||||||||||
| Capacity | 34,500 | |||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Joe Pope |
|||||||||||||
| Coach | Jamie Joseph |
|||||||||||||
| League | Air New Zealand Cup | |||||||||||||
| 2008 | 2nd - Runners-up | |||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
The Wellington Rugby Football Union (WRFU) is the official governing body of rugby union in the city of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. Also the cities of Porirua, Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt come under WRFU jurisdiction.It was founded in 1879, making it the second oldest provincial union in New Zealand, with its 125th jubilee celebrated in 2004.
Contents |
International Super Rugby
Players from Wellington who are eligible to play in the Super 14 generally play for the Hurricanes, and traditionally contribute the core of the Hurricanes squad. This position is largely due to the Wellington basing of the Hurricanes. Further, Manawatu and Hawke's Bay, two Hurricane provinces and prolific talent producers, had long been mired in the second half of the National Provincial Championship, allowing Wellington to lure the better players of these provinces with ease (Christian Cullen from Manawatu for example). The 2006 reorganisation of provincial rugby in 2006 brought all three provinces into the top-level Air New Zealand Cup, but Wellington have maintained their regional dominance.
Since Super Rugby's inaugural season in 1996 the Hurricanes have had mixed results. They have reached the semi-finals on four occasions losing to the ACT Brumbies in 1997 & the Crusaders in 2003, 2005 & 2008. Wellingtons only appearance in a grand final was in 2006, where they lost the game 19 - 12 to none other than the Crusaders.
National Representative Rugby
The senior Wellington representative team, the Wellington Lions play in the Air New Zealand Cup, replacing the National Provincial Championship in 2006, which the Lions have won four times since its inception in 1976. The titles came in 1978, 1981, 1986 and most recently in 2000. Their colours are gold and black as shown on the Lions jersey. The Lions play their home games at the Westpac Stadium, previously playing at Athletic Park until 1999. Even with an All-Star backline in the late 90's including Christian Cullen, Tana Umaga, Jonah Lomu and Alama Ieremia what was a superb team on paper never lived up to expectations and Wellington became known for its inconsitency. More recently it should be noted however that although the Lions have been unable to win another trophy the Wellington side have made it all the way to the grand final in four out of the last five years, losing to Auckland in 2003, to Canterbury in 2004, to Waikato in 2006, Auckland in 2007 and most recently to Canterbury in the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup.
Ranfurly Shield
| Ranfurly Shield | |
| Current holder | Wellington |
| Defences | 1 |
| Next Challenge | TBA |
The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the 'Log o' Wood', is perhaps the most prestigious trophy in New Zealand domestic rugby. First played for in 1904, the Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system, rather than a league or knockout competition as with most football trophies. The holding union must defend the Shield in challenge matches, and if a challenger defeats them, they become the new holder of the Shield.
Wellington won the first ever shield challenge winning it from Auckland in 1904 and defended it for 4 matches before losing it back to Auckland in 1905. It wouldn't be until 1914 when Wellington would get the shield back by winning it off Taranaki. This marked the longest time Wellington have held the shield successfully defending it for 15 matches until losing it again to Southland in 1920. They beat Southland a year later to regain the shield before promptly losing to Hawkes Bay after only 2 matches. Wellington held the shield for only one match in 1930 and after losing it to Canterbury they would not regain the shield until 1953. Up until the 1980s Wellington had short stints defending the shield but after losing it to Canterbury in 1982 it was to prove elusive. Wellington suffered 10 unsuccessful challenges for the Ranfurly Shield until they took it off Auckland in 2008, scoring five tries in a 27-0 victory, on the weekend of the Auckland Union's 125th anniversary.
Local Club Rugby
Club rugby is a large part of Wellington culture. Many All Blacks make appearances for there old clubs when available and much like the soccer fan base in England, Wellingtonians will have a club rugby side that they support.
|
|
Jersey
Main sponsor is Vodafone. Apparel is supplied by Canterbury of New Zealand. Other sponsors include:
- Dunlop
- Ricoh
- Tui
Squad
Wellington Lions squad for the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup:
|
|
|
|
- Ross Kennedy (on loan to Counties Manukau)
- Miah Nikora (previously on loan to Taranaki, recalled during Round 2)
- Tane Tu'ipulotu (on loan to Manawatu)
Notable players
- Jerry Collins
- Christian Cullen
- Lome Fa'atau
- Ross Filipo
- Roy Kinikinilau
- Jonah Lomu
- Ma'a Nonu
- Kristian Ormsby
- Shannon Paku
- Semo Sititi
- Elvis Seveali'i
- Sireli Bobo
- Conrad Smith
- Rodney So'oialo
- Neemia Tialata
- Tana Umaga
- Piri Weepu
- David Holwell
External links
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 18 November 2008, at 11:05.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Wellington Rugby Football Union".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.