1978 National Provincial Championship

The 1978 season was the third year of the National Provincial Championship (NPC), a provincial rugby union competition in New Zealand. Wellington were the winners of Division 1.

Division 1

	Relegated to Division Two

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Wellington	10	8	0	2	172	111	+61	16
2	Counties	10	7	0	3	167	110	+57	14
3	Canterbury	10	6	0	4	152	144	+8	12
4	Auckland	10	6	0	4	123	100	+23	12
5	North Auckland	10	6	0	4	129	137	−8	12
6	Manawatu	10	5	1	4	141	122	+19	11
7	Taranaki	10	4	2	4	156	129	+27	10
8	Southland	10	5	0	5	114	101	+13	10
9	Otago	10	3	1	6	115	164	−49	7
10	South Canterbury	10	2	1	7	92	150	−58	5
11	Hawke's Bay	10	0	1	9	68	161	−93	1

Results

June

5 June 1978

Counties	15–19	Wellington
	^[1]

Pukekohe Stadium, Pukekohe

14 June 1978

Hawke's Bay	4–9	Auckland
	^[1]

McLean Park, Napier

14 June 1978

Taranaki	17–17	Manawatu
	^[1]

Rugby Park, New Plymouth

21 June 1978

Counties	21–4	Manawatu
	^[1]

Pukekohe Stadium, Pukekohe

24 June 1978

Auckland	6–24	Manawatu
	^[1]

Eden Park, Auckland

July

1 July 1978

South Canterbury	7–26	Manawatu
	^[1]

Fraser Park, Timaru

5 July 1978

Otago	14–16	South Canterbury
	^[1]

Carisbrook, Dunedin

8 July 1978

Southland	14–6	South Canterbury
	^[1]

Rugby Park, Invercargill

15 July 1978

North Auckland	7–26	Counties
	^[1]

Okara Park, Whangārei

15 July 1978

South Canterbury	0–6	Southland
	^[1]

Fraser Park, Timaru

29 July 1978

Canterbury	23–0	Hawke's Bay
	^[1]

Lancaster Park, Christchurch

29 July 1978

Southland	6–7	Otago
	^[1]

Rugby Park, Invercargill

August

5 August 1978

North Auckland	12–3	Hawke's Bay
	^[1]

Okara Park, Whangārei

5 August 1978

Canterbury	18–7	South Canterbury
	^[1]

Lancaster Park, Christchurch

12 August 1978

South Canterbury	10–0	Taranaki
	^[1]

Fraser Park, Timaru

12 August 1978

Otago	9–14	Wellington
	^[1]

Carisbrook, Dunedin

16 August 1978

Otago	20–10	Hawke's Bay
	^[1]

Carisbrook, Dunedin

16 August 1978

Southland	16–7	Wellington
	^[1]

Rugby Park, Invercargill

19 August 1978

Taranaki	15–26	North Auckland
	^[1]

Rugby Park, New Plymouth

20 August 1978

Southland	15–7	Hawke's Bay
	^[1]

Rugby Park, Invercargill

23 August 1978

South Canterbury	6–10	North Auckland
	^[1]

Fraser Park, Timaru

26 August 1978

Wellington	22–10	North Auckland
	^[1]

Athletic Park, Wellington

27 August 1978

Taranaki	10–13	Auckland
	^[1]

Rugby Park, New Plymouth

30 August 1978

North Auckland	13–24	Auckland
	^[1]

Okara Park, Whangārei

30 August 1978

South Canterbury	3–21	Auckland
	^[1]

Fraser Park, Timaru

30 August 1978

Southland	13–10	Counties
	^[1]

Rugby Park, Invercargill

September

2 September 1978

Auckland	13–7	Canterbury
	^[1]

Eden Park, Auckland

2 September 1978

Hawke's Bay	17–17	Taranaki
	^[1]

McLean Park, Napier

2 September 1978

Manawatu	13–6	Wellington
	^[1]

Showgrounds Oval, Palmerston North

2 September 1978

Otago	9–19	Counties
	^[1]

Carisbrook, Dunedin

5 September 1978

Canterbury	6–21	Counties
	^[1]

Lancaster Park, Christchurch

6 September 1978

Wellington	26–10	South Canterbury
	^[1]

Athletic Park, Wellington

10 September 1978

Hawke's Bay	7–25	South Canterbury
	^[1]

McLean Park, Napier

10 September 1978

Taranaki	15–9	Southland
	^[1]

Rugby Park, New Plymouth

10 September 1978

Wellington	12–6	Auckland
	^[1]

Athletic Park, Wellington

10 September 1978

Canterbury	21–15	Otago
	^[1]

Lancaster Park, Christchurch

12 September 1978

Manawatu	10–12	North Auckland
	^[1]

Showgrounds Oval, Palmerston North

13 September 1978

Auckland	15–12	Southland
	^[1]

Eden Park, Auckland

13 September 1978

Counties	24–12	South Canterbury
	^[1]

Pukekohe Stadium, Pukekohe

13 September 1978

Taranaki	25–3	Otago
	^[1]

Rugby Park, New Plymouth

16 September 1978

Auckland	21–10	Otago
	^[1]

Eden Park, Auckland

16 September 1978

Manawatu	21–10	Hawke's Bay
	^[1]

Showgrounds Oval, Palmerston North

16 September 1978

Wellington	29–7	Canterbury
	^[1]

Athletic Park, Wellington

20 September 1978

North Auckland	26–10	Otago
	^[1]

Okara Park, Whangārei

20 September 1978

Counties	12–10	Auckland
	^[1]

Pukekohe Stadium, Pukekohe

23 September 1978

Hawke's Bay	7–8	Counties
	^[1]

McLean Park, Napier

24 September 1978

Wellington	19–15	Taranaki
	^[1]

Athletic Park, Wellington

24 September 1978

Canterbury	21–16	Southland
	^[1]

Lancaster Park, Christchurch

27 September 1978

Taranaki	26–10	Canterbury
	^[1]

Rugby Park, New Plymouth

27 September 1978

Otago	12–12	South Canterbury
	^[1]

Carisbrook, Dunedin

30 September 1978

Auckland	15–10	North Auckland
	^[1]

Eden Park, Auckland

30 September 1978

Counties	11–23	Taranaki
	^[1]

Pukekohe Stadium, Pukekohe

30 September 1978

Hawke's Bay	10–18	Wellington
	^[1]

McLean Park, Napier

30 September 1978

Manawatu	4–15	Canterbury
	^[1]

Showgrounds Oval, Palmerston North

Division 2 (North Island)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Bay of Plenty	8	7	1	0	160	84	+76	14
2	Waikato	8	7	1	0	205	77	+128	14
3	Wanganui	8	6	2	0	117	71	+46	12
4	Poverty Bay	8	4	4	0	128	127	+1	8
5	Horowhenua	8	4	4	0	101	128	-27	8
6	Thames Valley	8	3	4	1	88	167	-79	7
7	Wairarapa Bush	8	2	6	0	108	105	+3	4
8	King Country	8	2	6	0	106	152	-46	4
9	East Coast	8	0	7	1	85	187	-102	1

Division 2 (South Island)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Marlborough	5	5	0	124	33	+91	10
2	Nelson Bays	5	4	1	76	54	+22	8
3	Mid Canterbury	5	3	2	49	41	+8	6
4	North Otago	5	2	3	55	94	-39	4
5	Buller	5	1	4	53	81	-28	2
6	West Coast	5	0	5	27	81	-54	0

Promotion/Relegation

As the bottom-placed North Island team, Hawkes Bay were automatically relegated. The winners of Division Two North, Bay of Plenty, were automatically promoted to Division One.^[2]

South Canterbury faced Division Two South winner Marlborough. The match was tied 10–10, which meant South Canterbury remained in Division One.

4 October 1978

South Canterbury	10–10	Marlborough
Try: Neville Richards Con: Tony Kelly (0/1) Pen: Tony Kelly (2/2)	^[3]	Try: lan McAlpine Con: Steve Marfell (0/1) Pen: Steve Marfell (2/3)

Fraser Park, Timaru

Ranfurly Shield

Manawatu began the season as holders having defeated Auckland in the 1976 season. In 1978, they defended the shield in four matches, extending their tenure to 13 successful defences before being defeated by North Auckland. North Auckland chose not to accept any more challenges in 1978 and thus held the shield for the summer.

Manawatu

beat West Coast 51–10
beat Horowhenua 42–14
beat Poverty Bay 24–0
beat Wellington 13–6
lost to North Auckland 10–12

Citations

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Howitt 1978, pp. 83–85.
↑ "Wgtn new rugby champion, Canty equal third". The Press. 2 October 1978. p. 36.
↑ Howitt 1978, p. 85.

References

Howitt, Bob, ed. (1978). DB Rugby Annual 1978. Auckland: Moa. ISBN 0 908570 24 4.

[FOOTNOTEHowitt197883–85-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Howitt 1978, pp. 83–85.

[2] "Wgtn new rugby champion, Canty equal third". The Press. 2 October 1978. p. 36.

[FOOTNOTEHowitt197885-3] Howitt 1978, p. 85.

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[2]

[3]