Taranaki

Before there was a union to speak of, there was a team called Egmont, taking the field in the Taranaki province in 1885. Four years later the scattered clubs around New Plymouth formalised themselves into the Taranaki Rugby Football Union, and the amber and black hoops that still mark the jersey were settled on in 1892.

The union's name is tied above all to the Ranfurly Shield, which it held across eight separate spells, when Taranaki fought off 28 challengers before losing it. The shield still produces moments the province talks about years later: in 2017 the side went 7-31 down to Canterbury and came back to win 55-43.

2014 against Tasman, then 2023, when Taranaki beat Hawke's Bay 22-19 for the Bunnings NPC. Waikato remain the fixture that matters most, contested for the Ryan Wheeler Memorial Trophy and the Chiefs Country Cup.

more than eighty men have gone from Taranaki into the All Blacks jersey, among them the three Barrett brothers. who captained the All Blacks in 19 of his 21 tests for the side and is still the name New Plymouth measures its rugby against.