Central Vikings Rugby Union
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| Nickname(s) | The Vikings |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Region |
Hawke's Bay Manawatu |
| Ground(s) |
McLean Park Palmerston North Showgrounds |
| Coach(es) | Frank Oliver |
| Captain(s) | Bull Allen |
| Most caps | Orcades Crawford Tom Deighton (26) |
| Top scorer | Jarrod Cunningham (382) |
| Most tries | Roger Randle (16) |
| League(s) | NPC |
| 1998 | 1st |
Central Vikings Rugby Union was a New Zealand rugby union team that played in two seasons of the NPC from 1997-1998. The team featured current and future All Blacks, as well as a former All Black in coach Frank Oliver. With the announcement that New Zealand might receive a 6th Super Franchise in the SANZAR Super Rugby competition beginning 2016, the Hawke's Bay union has announced its interest in forming this franchise together with Manawatu therefore effectively resurrecting the Central Vikings brand as a Super Rugby franchise, although this never came to fruition and instead the expansion consisted of the Southern Kings, the Argentina based Jaguares and the Japan based Sunwolves.
The Central Vikings Rugby Union was founded in December 1996 with the merger of the Hawke's Bay and Manawatu unions. The Vikings were formed with the hopes of lifting themselves out of the 2nd division and to be competitive in the 1st division. The Central Vikings had two All Blacks in the team which included Bull Allen and Christian Cullen as well as featuring various Super 12 players such as Chiefs star Mark Ranby who later became an All Black himself. The Central Vikings finished 2nd in 1997 when they were beaten 63–10 by Northland but even if they had won, they weren't allowed to progress into the 1st division. They finished 1st in 1998 when they beat the then Nelson Bays team, now part of Tasman Makos. They were subsequently allowed to progress to the 1st division. The Vikings however got into financial trouble and they split back to Hawke's Bay and Manawatu for the 1999 season.
The Vikings were largely hindered in their second season after not only losing All Black legend Christian Cullen but also losing the then All Blacks Coach John Hart after Hart was advised he could not coach NPC, Super Rugby and All Black teams at the same time. Despite of these disadvantages the Vikings went on to win the second division and were picked to be a major force in the first division before financial problems prevented them from advancing and ultimately caused the end of the Vikings.
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