| Teamname: | Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Football Union |
| Nickname: | Ngati Porou East Coast |
| Url: | http://www.npec.co.nz |
| Founded: | 1921 |
| Location: | Ruatoria |
| Ground: | Whakarua Park |
| Capacity: | 3,000 |
| Coach: |  Hosea Gear |
| Chairman: | Val Morrison |
| League: | Heartland Championship |
| Season: | 2021 |
| Position: | 8th |
| Pattern B1: | _whitecollar |
| Pattern So1: | _whitetop |
| Leftarm1: | 4AB1EC |
| Body1: | 4AB1EC |
| Rightarm1: | 4AB1EC |
| Shorts1: | FFFFFF |
| Socks1: | 4AB1EC |
The Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Football Union (NPEC) is a constituent union in the New Zealand Rugby Union. It is located on the East Coast of the North Island, based in Ruatoria. It is the smallest Union in New Zealand in the sense of player numbers and population base. Due to the high number of players from the Ngati Porou iwi, the team is often referred to as Ngati Porou East Coast.
The Ngati Porou East Coast team home ground is Whakarua Park, Ruatoria. Ngati Porou East Coast were holders of the Meads Cup, defeating Wanganui 29–27 at Whakarua Park on 27 October 2012.[1]
The Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Football Union was formed in 1922 when they split from the Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union.
Ngati Porou East Coast has challenged for the Ranfurly Shield eight times losing heavily on each occasion.
| width=15% | width=25% | width=10% | width=25% | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 42–0 | Wellington | |||||
| 1968 | 31–0 | Napier | |||||
| 1981 | 54–0 | Hamilton | |||||
| 1987 | 72–0 | Auckland | |||||
| 1997 | 115–6 | Ruatoria | |||||
| 2002 | 51–6 | Christchurch | |||||
| 2013 | Ruatoria | ||||||
| 2021 | 93–5 | Napier |
Ngati Porou East Coast along with Wellington, Wairarapa Bush, Wanganui, Poverty Bay, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Horowhenua-Kapiti make up the Hurricanes Super Rugby region.
The team is renowned for losing 54 consecutive games.
However former all blacks Ma’a Nonu and Hosea Gear were involved in the side when they broke that drought in a 50-26 win over Buller.
They have had 6 players play for the All Blacks who have played rugby for the East Coast.
Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Football Union is made up of 9 clubs:
Ngati Porou East Coast won the NPC 3rd Division twice, first in 1999 defeating Poverty Bay 18–15 in the final at Ruatoria and secondly and more impressively, defeating North Otago in front of their home crowd at Oamaru in a come-from-behind 25–21 victory to record back to back NPC 3rd Division Championships.
| Round | Comp | Home team | Score | Away team | Score | |
| Week 1 | NPC | Buller | 18 | East Coast | 36 | |
| Week 2 | NPC | West Coast | 41 | East Coast | 13 | |
| Week 3 | NPC | Wairarapa Bush | 15 | East Coast | 31 | |
| Week 4 | NPC | East Coast | 10 | Poverty Bay | 15 | |
| Week 5 | NPC | East Coast | 30 | North Otago | 9 | |
| Week 6 | NPC | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 20 | East Coast | 14 | |
| Week 7 | NPC | East Coast | 74 | Buller | 8 | |
| Week 8 | NPC | East Coast | 18 | South Canterbury | 6 | |
| Semi Final | NPC | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 20 | East Coast | 21 | |
| Final | NPC | East Coast | 18 | Poverty Bay | 15 |
| Round | Comp | Home team | Score | Away team | Score | |
| Week 1 | NPC | East Coast | 20 | South Canterbury | 14 | |
| Week 2 | NPC | North Otago | 26 | Ngati Porou East Coast | 26 | |
| Week 3 | NPC | Buller | 12 | East Coast | 44 | |
| Week 4 | NPC | South Canterbury | 12 | East Coast | 6 | |
| Week 5 | NPC | East Coast | 33 | Wairarapa Bush | 20 | |
| Week 6 | NPC | Poverty Bay | 28 | East Coast | 30 | |
| Week 7 | NPC | East Coast | 33 | West Coast | 27 | |
| Week 8 | NPC | Ngati Porou East Coast | 31 | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 30 | |
| Semi Final | NPC | East Coast | 18 | Wairarapa Bush | 17 | |
| Final | NPC | North Otago | 21 | East Coast | 25 |
| Round | Comp | Home team | Score | Away team | Score | |
| Week 1 | NPC | Ngati Porou East Coast | 23 | West Coast | 16 | |
| Week 2 | NPC | South Canterbury | 37 | Ngati Porou East Coast | 9 | |
| Week 3 | NPC | Ngati Porou East Coast | 20 | Buller | 18 | |
| Week 4 | NPC | Mid Canterbury | 13 | Ngati Porou East Coast | 20 | |
| Week 5 | NPC | Ngati Porou East Coast | 25 | Wanganui | 17 | |
| Week 6 | NPC | Thames Valley | 38 | Ngati Porou East Coast | 53 | |
| Week 7 | NPC | Ngati Porou East Coast | 56 | King Country | 24 | |
| Week 8 | NPC | Poverty Bay | 14 | Ngati Porou East Coast | 24 | |
| Semi Final | NPC | Ngati Porou East Coast | 26 | North Otago | 15 | |
| Final | NPC | Ngati Porou East Coast | 29 | Wanganui | 27 |
| Heartland Championship Results[2] [3] [4] [5] | ||||||||||||||
| Year | Place | Playoffs | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semifinal | Final | |||||||||||||
| 2006 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 111 | 244 | −133 | 2 | 6 | 11th | No | — | ||
| 2007 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 130 | 210 | −70 | 3 | 11 | 11th | No | — | ||
| 2008 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 50 | 306 | −256 | 0 | 0 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2009 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 87 | 337 | −250 | 0 | 4 | 11th | No | — | ||
| 2010 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 96 | 384 | −288 | 1 | 1 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2011 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 189 | 198 | −9 | 3 | 27 | 3rd | Won 23–17 against | Lost 10–30 to | ||
| 2012 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 230 | 177 | +53 | 3 | 31 | 1st | Meads Cup | Won 26–15 against North Otago | Won 29–27 against Wanganui | |
| 2013 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 173 | 225 | −52 | 5 | 13 | 10th | No | — | ||
| 2014 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 67 | 367 | −300 | 0 | 0 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2015 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 112 | 368 | −256 | 2 | 2 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2016 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 166 | 458 | −292 | 3 | 3 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2017 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 98 | 353 | −255 | 0 | 0 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2018 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 99 | 447 | −348 | 2 | 2 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2019 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 153 | 319 | −166 | 0 | 0 | 12th | No | — | ||
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | style="background: #FFCCCC;" | -- | no competition held due to covid-19 | |
| 2021 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 242 | 258 | −16 | 0 | 0 | 8th | No | — | ||