North Harbour Rugby Union
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| Nickname(s) | Harbour, Hibiscus |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| Region | Blues |
| Ground(s) | North Harbour Stadium (Capacity: 25,000) |
| Coach(es) | Steve Jackson |
| League(s) | Mitre 10 Cup |
| 2016 | 3rd in Championship Promoted to Premiership for 2017 |
| Official website | |
| www |
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The North Harbour Rugby Union (NHRU), commonly referred to colloquially as North Harbour or simply Harbour, is a provincial rugby team that was formed in 1985 by clubs that left the Auckland Rugby Union. It competes in the Mitre 10 Cup (known as the ITM Cup between 2010–2015), the successor to the country's former domestic competition, the National Provincial Championship (NPC).
Harbour Rugby encompasses a geographical area that is situated in North Shore City, Rodney District and part of Waitakere City. There are 12 rugby clubs from Mahurangi RFC, based in Warkworth, Rodney District, in the north through to Massey the southernmost area of the union.
After 10 previous unsuccessful challenges for the Ranfurly Shield, most notably 1996 when they challenged for it three times in 6 weeks against Taranaki, Waikato and Auckland, North Harbour succeeded in their eleventh challenge for the shield on 24 September 2006 by beating the previous holders Canterbury 21–17 at Jade Stadium in Christchurch.
Under the rules of the Shield challenge, they had to defend the Shield before the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup season against teams in New Zealand's second tier domestic competition, the semi-professional Heartland Championship. Accordingly, they scheduled defences against Thames Valley on 30 June 2007 and Horowhenua-Kapiti on 14 July. Harbour easily won their first defence 69–0 over Thames Valley, and followed it up two weeks later with an impressive 99–6 victory over Horowhenua-Kapiti.
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