2004 National Provincial Championship Explained

The 2004 season was the 29th year of the National Provincial Championship (NPC), a provincial rugby union competition in New Zealand. Canterbury were the winners of Division 1, Nelson Bays were the winners of Division 2, and Poverty Bay were the winners of Division 3.

Division 1

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Wellington	9	7	1	1	313	154	+159	38	17	4	1	35
2	Canterbury	9	6	1	2	346	207	+139	40	25	4	2	32
3	Bay of Plenty	9	7	0	2	241	221	+20	25	25	3	1	32
4	Waikato	9	6	0	3	294	215	+79	37	22	5	1	30
5	Taranaki	9	6	0	3	332	257	+75	43	31	4	1	29
6	North Harbour	9	4	1	4	246	200	+46	28	23	5	4	27
7	Auckland	9	4	0	5	265	287	−22	34	34	5	3	24
8	Otago	9	2	1	6	183	261	−78	17	31	1	1	12
9	Southland	9	1	0	8	174	338	−164	21	40	1	0	5
10	Northland	9	0	0	9	182	436	−254	21	56	0	1	1

Results

Grand Final

Division 2

• = Wanganui lost five points and East Coast lost one bonus point for player eligibility breaches, i.e. the points gained in the match where the breach took place.

Division 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Poverty Bay	7	5	0	2	227	119	+108	30	14	5	2	27
2	Wairarapa Bush	7	5	1	1	176	120	+56	24	14	4	0	26
3	Mid Canterbury	7	5	0	2	185	126	+59	22	18	2	1	23
4	Horowhenua-Kapiti	7	4	1	2	209	171	+38	31	23	4	0	22
5	King Country	7	3	1	3	161	144	+17	20	18	1	1	16
6	South Canterbury	7	2	1	4	119	150	−31	15	19	1	1	12
7	West Coast	7	2	0	5	130	267	−137	18	37	2	0	10
8	Buller	7	0	0	7	92	202	−110	10	27	0	3	3

Ranfurly Shield

As the holders of the Ranfurly Shield from the end of 2003, Auckland began their defence of the shield against Poverty Bay in Auckland. Auckland won this match and made one more successful defence before losing to Bay of Plenty. Following their first ever Ranfurly Shield win, Bay of Plenty also won their first ever defence of the shield against Waikato before losing it to Canterbury, who made two successful defences to take the shield into the 2005 season.

Auckland (15th Ranfurly Shield reign)

• 28 July 2004 – Auckland v Poverty Bay (won 116–3)
• 1 August 2004 – Auckland v Counties Manukau (won 100–15)
• 15 August 2004 – Auckland v Bay of Plenty (lost 28–33)

Bay of Plenty (1st Ranfurly Shield reign)

• 22 August 2004 – Bay of Plenty v Waikato (won 26–20)
• 5 September 2004 – Bay of Plenty v Canterbury (lost 26–33)

Canterbury (11th Ranfurly Shield reign)

• 18 September 2004 – Canterbury v Southland (won 52–13)
• 9 October 2004 – Canterbury v Northland (won 68–19)

References

• Web site: NPC Results 1976-2006 . thesilverfern.co.nz . https://web.archive.org/web/20090808023539/http://www.thesilverfern.co.nz/index.php/air-nz-cup-mainmenu-57/results-1976-2005-mainmenu-145 . 8 August 2009 . 12 May 2006 . 13 July 2024 .
• The 2005 New Zealand Rugby Almanack, Edited by Clive Akers and Geoff Miller