It came after a week when the portents for the NPC’s future hadn’t looked great.
Compared with the Dame Noeline Taurua netball fiasco, the decision to deny Canterbury players Sam Darry and George Bell the chance to play in the final was almost a minor issue.
As a famous former All Black said to me this week: “This season we’ve seen the best rugby in the NPC for years. It’s extraordinary that for the sake of a couple of days, those guys weren’t allowed to catch up with the team in the States after playing the final.”
Listen to Liam
In the week leading into the final, veteran Otago hooker Liam Coltman explained why he believes the NPC is the most important competition in New Zealand.
“It’s the mixing pot for guys coming out of club rugby and the guys who don’t kick on from Super Rugby to the All Blacks.”
In Saturday’s match, there were numerous examples of the sort of mix Coltman was talking about.
In the Canterbury midfield, Braydon Ennor and Dallas McLeod, both recent All Blacks, were vital to their team’s victory. At fullback for Otago, the uncapped Sam Gilbert was the fearless, reliable inspiration he has been to the team all season.
Sightings of All Blacks in club rugby these days are as rare as moments of modesty in the White House’s Oval Office.
But the NPC gives up-and-coming players like Otago halfback Dylan Pledger and Canterbury first five-eighths Andrew Newstubb the chance to compete with, and learn from, players who have made the very top rank.
Canterbury's Ngane Punivai and Torian Barnes celebrate winning the NPC final against Otago. Photo / Photosport
Sons of guns
The numerous kids in the crowd during the final hopefully left the ground with warm memories that will encourage them in later years to go to live games.
At the other end of the age spectrum, there were two players who might have stirred nostalgia among veteran fans.
At centre for Otago was Josh Timu, the son of 1990s All Black John Timu. The father of Canterbury’s dynamic loose forward Dominic Gardiner, is a Canterbury legend, Angus.
The unsung hero who started it
Weirdly, the NPC has a long history of what almost amounts to disrespect. It took (I am not making this up) 104 years for the New Zealand Rugby Union to organise the first National Provincial Championship, in 1976.
Almost every other team sport in the country, from hockey to netball, ran an annual provincial championship.
It took a likeable, self-effacing Pakūranga accountant, Barry Smith, the vice-chairman of the Auckland Rugby Union, four years of behind-the-scenes lobbying to persuade officials in the rest of the country that the NPC wasn’t some devious Auckland plot to dominate the sport.
The first NPC was a round robin without knockout finals. It was another 16 years before a finals format was introduced.
Smith’s efforts always seemed largely unrecognised. He was on the cover of the 1977 Rugby Almanack with the first winning captain, Bay of Plenty’s Tuck Waaka. And that was about it.
Does the NPC rate, today?
The problem for the competition is that it’s not as big a money spinner as (obviously) the Rugby Championship, or (to a lesser degree) Super Rugby.
But it would be a mistake to believe that the NPC doesn’t draw a decent television audience. Sky TV’s figures for this year’s competition actually showed an increase of 9% on 2024 viewing totals, and Sky’s digital audience was up 7%.
Super Rugby arrived here in such a rush to make sure we got our share of the US$555 million TV deal signed by South Africa, New Zealand and Australia with Rupert Murdoch’s broadcasting company, the effect on the NPC wasn’t a big consideration. So, it’s remarkable in many ways that provincial rugby still has the following it does.
It would be extremely sad to see it allowed to wither, or even die.
At a time when rugby, like all organised sports, has never faced greater competition for the attention of young men and women, games that are basically played by the people next door should be a part of NZ Rugby’s plans for the future.
Phil Gifford is a Contributing Sports Writer for NZME. He is one of the most-respected voices in New Zealand sports journalism.
