Whakarua Park

Whakarua Park
Location Ruatoria, Gisborne region, New Zealand
Coordinates 37°53′20″S 178°19′16″E / 37.8887669°S 178.321076°E / -37.8887669; 178.321076Coordinates: 37°53′20″S 178°19′16″E / 37.8887669°S 178.321076°E / -37.8887669; 178.321076
Capacity 3,000[1]
Surface Grass
Tenants
East Coast Ngāti Porou

Whakarua Park is a sports facility which is located on Whakarua Park Road in Ruatoria, Gisborne, New Zealand. The main sport that is played is rugby union, being the home ground of the East Coast Rugby Football Union, known as the East Coast Ngāti Porou, who play in the Heartland Championship and formerly played in the National Provincial Championship's Second and Third divisions.[1]

History

It has been used by the East Coast Rugby Football Union since it split from the Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union in 1922. Since then it has hosted numerous notable games including two Ranfurly Shield matches in 1997 against Auckland and in 2013 against Waikato. On both occasions East Coast suffered heavy losses.

Whakarua Park also hosted the 1999 NPC Third Division final between East Coast and Poverty Bay in which the Ngāti Porou won 18–15. The 2000 NPC Third Division saw East Coast defeat Wairarapa Bush 18–17, however they would go on to lose the final at Centennial Park in Oamaru against North Otago.

More recently, one of the semifinals and the final of the 2012 Heartland Championship took place in Whakarua Park as East Coast went on to win the championship for the first time since the disestablishment of the NPC in 2006.[2]

Ahead of the 2016 Super Rugby season, the Hurricanes prepared during preseason in Ruatoria and Gisborne.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "2013 Pink Batts Heartland Championship Media Guide". AllBlacks.com. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Fixtures and Results (2012)". Heartland Championship. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Robson, Toby (31 January 2015). "Plenty at stake for Hurricanes second-stringers in pre-season clash with Crusaders". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 12 April 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.