1976 National Provincial Championship

The National Provincial Championship, also known in short as the NPC or commercially known as the 'Radio New Zealand National Championship', was the predecessor to the current ITM Cup and Heartland Championship in New Zealand rugby. 1976 was the first year of the National Provincial Championship, Bay of Plenty were the winners of Division 1, while Taranaki and South Canterbury were the winners of Division 2 North Island and Division 2 South Island respectively.

Division 1

Standings

These were the NPC Division 1 standings for the 1976 season.

Radio New Zealand National Championship 1976 Division 1
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF Pts
1 Bay of Plenty 10811195112+832517
2 Manawatu (RS) 10711142104+381715
3 Auckland 10613160133+271913
4 Canterbury 10604153118+352012
5 Counties 10604118107+112012
6 Wellington 10514165122+432011
7 Otago 10424106148+421110
8 Hawke's Bay 10406125130-5188
9 Marlborough 10307146192-46196
10 Southland 10217105161-56135
11 North Auckland 10019761648881

Games

May 1976

June 1976

July 1976

August 1976

September 1976

Division 2 (North Island)

Standings

These were the NPC Division 2 standings (North Island) for the 1976 season.

Radio New Zealand National Championship 1976 Division 2 (North Island)
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF Pts
1 Taranaki 880020949+1602816
2 Wanganui 870121687+1293114
3 King Country 8413110144-3499
4 Poverty Bay 840492115-23118
5 Waikato 840417376+97288
6 Wairarapa Bush 840498107-9138
7 East Coast 820641214-17364
8 Thames Valley 811670128-5863
9 Horowhenua 810794183-89152

Games

May 1976

June 1976

July 1976

August 1976

September 1976

Division 2 (South Island)

Standings

These were the NPC Division 2 standings (South Island) for the 1976 season.

Radio New Zealand National Championship 1976 Division 2 (South Island)
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF Pts
1 South Canterbury 540110339+64148
2 Buller 53026440+2496
3 Nelson Bays 53027277-5116
4 Mid Canterbury 52125055-565
5 West Coast 51135963-463
6 North Otago 510441115-7462

Games

June 1976

July 1976

August 1976

September 1976

Promotion/Relegation Games

As North Auckland came last in Division 1, the unbeaten winners of Division 2 (North Island) who were Taranaki got promoted to Division 1 to replace North Auckland.

South Canterbury who won Division 2 (South Island) had a chance to be promoted up to Division 1 where they faced Southland but lost the game 24 to 11 and so did not get promoted.

References

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.