Heartland Championship

South Canterbury has won the Meads Cup for a third consecutive year with a 40-30 victory over a gallant Whanganui. Down 33-30 the Butcher Boys were pressing hard for victory in the last ten minutes until a careless penalty was conceded at the breakdown. With momentum, and approaching the hosts 22,

Nigel Walsh played more than 170 senior games at prop for the Pleasant Point Rugby Club. He featured in seven finals and lost seven times. Following 68 appearances for South Canterbury between 1992 and 1999 he hooked up with Marist Albion in Christchurch coaching the Colts. He guided the Dooleys to

The Heartland Championship finalists have been found with a repeat of the 2022 decider between South Canterbury and Whanganui to decide the Meads Cup. West Coast will host the Lochore Cup final against Poverty Bay who pulled a rabbit out of the hat to shock North Otago. South Canterbury: 34 (Liueli Simote 2,

While New Zealand rugby’s 12 Heartland Provincial Unions are highly competitive on the field, the strength of their bonds off it are as strong as ever following the devastation of cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year. The cyclone left thousands of rugby participants in Poverty Bay and Ngāti Porou East Coast dealing