Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chairman Hayden Swann stands in the concourse of the John Heikell Grandstand at Rugby Park, between the embankment seats and the grandstand proper. The redevelopment of the grandstand is scheduled to be completed in June 2026. Photo / Wynsley Wrigley
Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chairman Hayden Swann stands in the concourse of the John Heikell Grandstand at Rugby Park, between the embankment seats and the grandstand proper. The redevelopment of the grandstand is scheduled to be completed in June 2026. Photo / Wynsley Wrigley
The final stage of Rugby Park’s $12.5 million redevelopment begins next week, with completion delayed to June 2026.
Delays were due to consent issues, weather events, and liquefaction problems.
A major fixture in 2027 could be a Super Rugby or Māori All Blacks match.
The final stage of Rugby Park’s $12.5 million redevelopment starts on Monday, but the scheduled completion date has been delayed until June 2026.
Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chairman Hayden Swann attributes the delay of stage 2 to consent matters, finalising contract matters with Currie Construction and finalising design details.
Previous delays were caused by weather events and costly liquefaction issues.
Union officials are still happy with the new facility they will have soon.
Swann said Poverty Bay will have the best home facility of any of the 12 Heartland unions.
Union chief executive Ray Noble will travel to Timaru next month to look for ideas from the recently redeveloped Fraser Park – home ground of the South Canterbury Heartland union.
“There’s probably stuff they have done well,” said Noble.
“But there’s probably stuff, where if they had their time again, they would do differently.”
A computer-generated image of how the new John Heikell Grandstand at Rugby Park will look after a $12.2 million redevelopment project is scheduled to be completed by June 2026. Image / Supplied
The delay means any major fixture to celebrate the opening of the new complex will be put back to the 2027 season.
Noble said the possibilities in the 2027 season included a Super Rugby championship match or a Super Rugby Aupiki fixture.
“We could potentially have a Super Rugby match that would otherwise go to Palmerston North or Napier.
“Once we get the grandstand up, we could have the Hurricanes up here to have a look, so when the draw is made for next season is made, it might happen.”
Noble said Super Rugby Aupiki had a history of playing at smaller venues, so a game here was a possibility.
Hosting the Māori All Blacks was another option but that would depend on their programme for the 2027 season.
The Poverty Bay union will still host the board of New Zealand Rugby on King’s Birthday weekend, when the topic of staging a big game in Gisborne will be broached.
Swann said he was not aware of the board previously meeting outside Wellington.
The two organisations will dine together on Friday and meet at Rugby Park on Saturday morning to watch T1 school matches (non-contact games featuring lineouts, scrums and the breakdown) before travelling to Ruatōria to watch the traditional King’s Birthday weekend fixture between Ngati Porou East Coast and Poverty Bay.
Swann said “a large chunk of the new grandstand” would be similar to the previous grandstand.
There would be 980 plastic seats coloured red, with a “peppering” of white seats lower down the grandstand.
More changes have been made to the front area to meet New Zealand Rugby requirements for hosting major matches, including the grandstand now being 5m back from the playing field.
Noble said the previous players tunnel did not lead to the halfway line, but the new one would.
The grandstand now has a concourse, which makes it possible to walk across the width of the stand to get to a seat or either side of it. Previously, the players’ tunnel prevented spectators doing that.
Stage 1 of the redevelopment included the installation of ground drainage, water tanks, creating embankment bleacher seats in front of the grandstand and a new “Rolls-Royce”-quality pitch similar to that at Waikato Stadium.
Curries Construction also built stage 1.
Trust Tairāwhiti has provided funding of just over $1.17m to complete the stage 2 grandstand rebuild.
The trust, in a statement, said the rebuild would “deliver a modern, accessible facility that supports local sport, major events and the wider community, including potential future use as a Civil Defence site”.
Other funding of $11.3m came from Kānoa, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s regional economic development arm.
Swann confirmed the grandstand would remain named after legendary Gisborne rugby/cricket journalist, historian and broadcaster John Heikell.
It was possible the union could seek naming rights for Rugby Park after consultation with Gisborne District Council, Swann said.
Rugby Park officially opened in June 1955 with a festival match between Poverty Bay and the NZ Barbarians featuring the recently retired star All Blacks fullback, Bob Scott.
The existing structure was quickly built in 1965 for the Poverty Bay-East Coast match against the Springboks after the original grandstand was destroyed by fire.
