# Horowhenua-Kapiti Rugby Football Union

The Horowhenua-Kapiti Rugby Football Union is the governing body for rugby union in the Horowhenua and Kāpiti Coast districts in the Manawatū-Whanganui and Wellington regions.

## History

The union was established in 1893 as the Horowhenua Rugby Football Union and was changed to its current name of Horowhenua-Kapiti in 1997, in order to reflect the full extent of the union's districts.

## Clubs

The union currently has nine member clubs, listed below. Foxton is the oldest club in the union, having been established in 1880, however it was not a permanent affiliate of the union until 1911.
* Athletic RFC
* College Old Boys RFC
* Foxton RFC
* Levin Wanderers RFC
* Paraparaumu RFC
* Rahui RFC
* Shannon RFC
* Toa RFC
* Waikanae RFC

## Provincial representative rugby

Horowhenua-Kapiti currently compete in the Heartland Championship, an annual competition organised by the New Zealand Rugby Union for New Zealand's amateur unions. The team play out of Levin Domain in Horowhenua. Previously, Horowhenua-Kapiti competed in the lower divisions of the National Provincial Championship.

### National Provincial Championship

The union won the National Provincial Championship (NPC) Third Division in 1993. In 2018 the union won their second major honour to date, winning the 2018 Lochore Cup Final against Wairarapa Bush 26–23. 2018 was also the union's 125th anniversary, 25 years after their previous title in their centenary year in 1993.

### Heartland Championship

A summary of Horowhenua-Kapiti's placings in the Heartland Championship is shown below:
Heartland Championship Results :
| Year | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BP | Pts | Place | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs |
| Year | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BP | Pts | Place | Qual | Semifinal | Final |
| 2006 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 163 | 257 | −94 | 3 | 13 | 6th | No | — | — |
| 2007 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 164 | 260 | −96 | 2 | 6 | 12th | No | — | — |
| 2008 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 234 | 174 | +60 | 5 | 21 | 7th | Lochore Cup | Won 37–17 against Wairarapa Bush | Lost 5–26 to Poverty Bay |
| 2009 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 193 | 166 | +27 | 3 | 19 | 5th | No | — | — |
| 2010 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 167 | 186 | −19 | 3 | 15 | 8th | Lochore Cup | Lost 14–19 to Buller | — |
| 2011 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 98 | 326 | −228 | 1 | 5 | 12th | No | — | — |
| 2012 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 124 | 238 | −114 | 1 | 9 | 12th | No | — | — |
| 2013 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 141 | 182 | −41 | 6 | 10 | 11th | No | — | — |
| 2014 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 169 | 121 | +48 | 2 | 26 | 4th | Meads Cup | Lost 15–22 to Buller | — |
| 2015 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 263 | 261 | +2 | 7 | 23 | 5th | Lochore Cup | Lost 12–57 to North Otago | — |
| 2016 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 224 | 260 | −36 | 5 | 15 | 9th | No | — | — |
| 2017 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 259 | 154 | +105 | 4 | 32 | 2nd | Meads Cup | Won 18–17 against Buller | Lost 14–30 to Wanganui |
| 2018 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 246 | 251 | -5 | 8 | 24 | 5th | Lochore Cup | Won 34–24 against Mid Canterbury | Won 26–23 against Wairarapa Bush |
| 2019 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 184 | 250 | -66 | 5 | 17 | 9th | No | — | — |
| 2021 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 214 | 197 | 17 | 4 | 24 | 7th | No | — | — |
| 2022 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 218 | 298 | -80 | 4 | 20 | 6th | Lochore Cup | Lost 30-37 to East Coast | — |
| 2023 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 176 | 297 | -121 | 3 | 11 | 12th | No | — | — |
| 2024 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 244 | 289 | -45 | 6 | 22 | 6th | Lochore Cup | Lost 51-52 to West Coast | — |
There was no Heartland Championship in 2020 due to Covid 19 restrictions.

### Ranfurly Shield

Horowhenua-Kapiti have never held the Ranfurly Shield but had two successful challenges in 1927 when the union was amalgamated with Manawatu as Manawhenua. In 2007 Horowhenua-Kapiti had a challenge against North Harbour, but were outclassed throughout the match, losing 99–6. Their following matches would come in 2013 when they suffered an 85–0 loss against Waikato and in 2015 when they lost to Hawke's Bay by a margin of 50–16.

### Other teams

In addition to the Heartland Championship side, the union fields a number of age-grade and women's representative teams, including a High-Performance Unit for local club and school players.

## Super Rugby

Horowhenua-Kapiti along with Wellington, Wairarapa Bush, Wanganui, Manawatu, Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay fall within the Hurricanes (formerly Wellington Hurricanes) catchment. In 2013, the union purchased a three percent stake in the company which operates the team, Hurricanes' Investment Ltd, with a $100,000 contribution.

## All Blacks

There have only been two players selected for the All Blacks while playing for Horowhenua-Kapiti:
* Hohepa Jacob (All Black number 220) who played 8 matches and scored 25 points for New Zealand on the 1920 tour of New South Wales as a Wing Forward/Loose forward. Jacob was also a 2nd Lieutenant in the New Zealand (Māori) Pioneer Battalion during World War I and was awarded the Military Cross in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours
* Joe Karam (All Black number 713) who played 10 tests and another 32 games for New Zealand between 1972 and 1975 scoring 345 points (65 in tests). Joe Karam later played for the Glenora Bears and the Auckland rugby league team. He also waged a successful campaign to overturn the murder conviction of David Bain.
Carlos Spencer played for the union between 1992 and 1993 before moving to Auckland and Christian Cullen played for the union in 1994 before moving to Manawatu. Dane Coles and Codie Taylor played their junior rugby in Horowhenua-Kapiti making the age grade teams, while Codie Taylor also represented the Horowhenua-Kapiti sevens team.