Otago Rugby Football Union

History

The union was founded in 1881, celebrating its 125th year in 2006. Since the inception of the NPC in 1976, Otago have won the competition twice, in 1991 and 1998. Furthermore, since playoffs were introduced, Otago have made the final on six occasions and the semi-finals on 11 Occasions.

In Ranfurly Shield performance, Otago have won 36 of 74 shield matches, with only Auckland and Canterbury having a better record.

Otago made two more NPC Division 1 finals since their last title in 1998, both in 2001 and 2005 finishing runners-up on both occasions.

After 2005 the NPC was revamped into the Air New Zealand Cup, which is now known as the Mitre10 Cup. Four new teams were promoted from the NPC Second Division into the Air New Zealand Cup. Otago had another season reaching the semi-finals, losing to Waikato 44–15 at Waikato Stadium.

2007 began with a 68–7 defeat to Wellington in the Capital. Otago would win five matches to reach the quarter finals where they were beaten by Canterbury 44–6 in Christchurch.

2008 saw Otago win four of their ten matches. However Otago would be the only team to defeat Wellington (36–21) during the regular season. Otago finished 10th in 2009 and Otago finish 10th once again with five wins from thirteen matches.

2010 saw a new adopted name. Otago would be known as "the Razorbacks". However Otago won two of thirteen matches and finished with the wooden spoon.

2011 would see Otago placed in the reformatted championship. 2011 was a significant year for Otago with the team playing its final season at Carisbrook before the mid-season relocation to the Forsyth Barr Stadium. Also Otago's Tony Brown would play for the Razorbacks. Otago began the season defeating North Harbour 46–29 at Carisbrook. The following week Otago created history by defeating Auckland 32–25 at Eden Park. It was Otago's first win at Eden Park since 1976. Otago started with just as many wins as they had all of the 2010 ITM Cup season. Otago would play Southland in the teams final ever game at Carisbrook, losing 19–12 to the Stags. Manawatu were supposed to be Otago's first new opponents at the Forsyth Barr Stadium. Bad weather however would postpone the game to later in the season. Otago played Canterbury in the teams' first game at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Canterbury won 29–16 in front of a crowd of 14067. Otago defeated Manawatu 28–20 to finish 3rd position in the championship.

2012 started with news that Otago had over 2 million dollars in debt. The ORU faced liquidation and having their 130 years of existence in jeopardy. However the Dunedin City Council were able to reach a deal allowing Otago to continue on. Otago would win five of ten matches and reach the Championship semi-finals where they defeated Tasman 41–34. In the Championship final Counties Manukau was too strong running out 41–16 winners.

2013 began with an opening round win over Bay of Plenty. Otago in the following week defeated Waikato 26–19 in Hamilton to claim the Ranfurly Shield. It was the first time the shield had come to Otago since 1957. Otago's shield fever was short lived as Hawkes Bay would win 20–19 over Otago the following week. Otago would go on to win four more matches including one over Auckland. Otago would reach the Championship semi-finals for the second consecutive year, however it was Hawkes Bay who were once again victorious winning 29–24. Otago finished 3rd.

Liquidation

On 27 February 2012, it was announced by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union that the Otago Rugby Football Union would be put into liquidation on 2 March 2012. According to the NZRFU, the negative equity held by the ORFU amounted to more than NZ$2 million. It was subsequently announced that the liquidation was to be put on hold until 16 March 2012. On 15 March 2012, a deal was struck between the union and the Dunedin City Council that allowed the union to continue operations.

Club rugby

Clubs within the union are split into two groups, Metro and Country. Clubs include:

Metro

Country

Representative rugby

Nicknamed the Razorbacks, the Otago team presently compete in the ITM Cup Championship Division. The 2011 season saw an improvement in Otago's performance, finishing 3rd in their division after coming last in the 2010 season. This 2012 sees a raft of changes to the squad with 15 players not being picked again this year. Some have gone into coaching roles i.e. Tony Brown into the head coaching role and Kees Meeuws appointed scrum coach. Many players were not picked due to the financial woes of the union with coaches Brown and Young having to pick mainly local club players. Coach Tony Brown however lured Japanese internationals, Shota Horie and Fumiaki Tanaka to the union. In 2013, Otago won the Ranfurly Shield by beating Waikato 26–19. It was the first time since 1957 that Otago held the national challenge trophy. They lost it again in their first defence of it, to Hawke's Bay. Otago has a Women's team in the Women's Provincial Championship, called the Otago Spirits.

Current squad

The squad for the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup.

Denotes team captain, Denotes that a player is unavailable due to injury, Bold denotes player is internationally capped.

Otago in Super Rugby

From the start of the Super Rugby competition in 1996, Otago was one of three unions (along with Southland and North Otago) to comprise the Highlanders, and Otago players traditionally formed the bulk of the Highlanders' playing squad.

This changed in 2010 with the move to direct-contracting for Super Rugby teams, meaning that Otago players are free to sign with any of the New Zealand-based teams. Despite this change, in the 2011 Super Rugby season all Otago players in the competition were still playing for the Highlanders. However, due to the recent struggles of Otago and an influx of players from other areas, Otago players no longer represent the majority of the Highlanders' playing personnel.

2013 Super Rugby players

International players (recent)

Individual and team records

100+ matches

Honours

1991, 1998

1935–38 (8), 1938 (5), 1947–50 (18), 1957 (1), 2013 (0)