The Tasman Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere, a bay at the north end of the South Island in New Zealand. Headquartered in Nelson, TRU is New Zealand's newest provincial union, founded in 2006 with the amalgamation of the existing Marlborough and Nelson Bays sub unions.
The union's premier team is the Tasman Mako which compete in New Zealand's provincial rugby competition, the National Provincial Championship.
Contents
Club rugby
There are 22 clubs in the Tasman Union.
Club champions
2026 Marist 31 Nelson 22
2026 Marist 43 Waimea Old Boys 17
2026 Kahurangi 46 Waimea 13
2025 Waimea 23 Kahurangi 22
History
When the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) reviewed the domestic competitions in 2005, a new 14 team premier division of competition was created, as the Air New Zealand Cup, taking the place of the National Provincial Championship (NPC).
The restructured domestic competition opened the door for the Nelson Bays and Marlborough Rugby Unions to form a relationship, forming one organisation in an attempt to be awarded a position in the new competition.
Early years: 2006 to 2010
A Tasman 15 played Canada 'A' on April 26, 2006 at Trafalgar Park. The Tasman side won by 40 points, the final score being 48 points to 8. The Mako were grouped in Pool A of the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup.
In their first ever match in the Air New Zealand Cup, the Mako earned a bonus point in a loss to the North Harbour team, losing 33 points to 27. They were defeated by Auckland the following week by 40 points. However, the Mako won their first match in round three, defeating Manawatu by 43 points to 0.
Their only other win of the season came at home against Northland, with an impressive 56–15 win.
Despite the season record of just 2 wins and 7 losses, the Mako showed the ability to compete and provided a platform to build for the future.
Ti'i Paulo captained the side.
The 2007 season was disappointing for the Mako, finishing the season with a record of 2 wins and 8 losses. Wins came against Hawke's Bay and Manawatu, with close losses against Waikato and Canterbury.
Early on in the 2008 season, the NZRU announced that Tasman and Northland would be relegated from the competition at the end of the season, due to failing to meet a set of criteria including financial stability. With the axe hovering over them, the Mako produced their best season yet, silencing their critics.
In round 2 against Waikato, Tasman first five Miah Nikora nailed a stunning last minute drop goal to snatch a 14–16 victory and claim the Mako first scalp over a major union. This was followed with wins over Taranaki, Northland, Manawatu and a draw against Otago to see the Mako finish the season 7th on the ladder. Facing a strong Canterbury side in the quarter-finals, the Mako lost 48–10. However, their strong season coupled with public pressure forced the NZRU to reverse its decision and announce that Tasman and Northland would remain in the competition.
Championship division: 2011 to 2013
In 2011, the ITM Cup was restructured into two competitions, with the top 7 teams competing for the Premiership title and the next 7 teams competing for the Championship title. Each province played the other 6 teams in their own division once, plus 4 interdivisional matches.
The Tasman Mako played in the Championship for 2011. Despite taking just 2 wins and finishing in last spot for the season, the Mako were well received by their fans by playing a positive attacking brand of rugby that included 4 losses by 4 points or less. Upset victories were achieved against Hawke's Bay 21–19 in Napier, and Auckland (again) 30–28 in Nelson. Shane Christie and James Marshall were selected for the New Zealand sevens team that year.
2012 was a good season for the Mako, recording a win over Canterbury to start their season the Mako went on to win 5 out of their 10 round robin games and made the semi-final where they lost to Otago 41-34.
In 2013 for the first time in their short history the Mako gained promotion to the Premiership division as they won the Championship playing 12 games in the season and coming away with 10 wins, including a 49-28 win over Southland in the semi-final at Lansdowne Park and the victory which sent them to the Premiership which was a tight 26-25 win over Hawke's Bay at Trafalgar Park.
Premiership division: 2014 to 2021
Tasman was promoted to the ITM Cup Premiership division for the 2014 season.
The Mako had a successful first year in the Premiership in 2014, making it all the way to the Premiership final where they lost 36-32 to Taranaki at Yarrow Stadium. The Mako played 12 games in the 2014 season with 8 wins, 3 losses and a 16-16 draw against Auckland at Eden Park.
2015 was again a solid year for the Mako, playing 11 games with 7 wins and 4 losses. The Mako made it to the semi-final but lost 44-24 against Auckland at Eden Park.
2016 and 2017 were very similar years for the Mako, making the final in both seasons. The 2016 season saw the Mako play 12 games with 8 wins, 3 losses and a 27-27 draw against North Harbour at North Harbour Stadium. While the 2017 season saw the Mako play 12 games, winning 7 and losing 5. Both years though saw the Mako go down to Canterbury in the final, played at Christchurch Stadium both years, with the 2016 scoreline being 43-27 and the 2017 scoreline being 35-13. The team also went through a rebrand, changing the logo and team colours ahead of the 2016 season. The logo was later changed back after it received widespread criticism.
2018 was again a very good year for the Mako, winning 9 out of 10 of their round robin fixtures - losing only to Auckland 36-10 at Eden Park. The team made the semi-finals but lost 16-21 to Canterbury in a controversial game at Trafalgar Park. 20 of the Mako squad from the 2018 season would go on to earn Super Rugby contracts for the 2019 Super Rugby season. Ahead of the 2018 season, the team changed their name from the Tasman Makos to Tasman Mako, with 'Mako' being the correct plural of the Māori name.
After just 14 seasons the Tasman Mako reached the pinnacle of New Zealand provincial rugby, winning the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup and doing it unbeaten. After going through the round robin with 10 wins from 10 games the Mako played Auckland at Lansdowne Park coming away with an 18-9 win in a game that went right down to the wire. The Mako then had their fourth crack at the Premiership title when they faced Wellington at Trafalgar Park and it was fourth time lucky as the Mako came away with the win 31-14.
Combined competition: 2022 to present
2022 was a season full of disappointment for the Mako with just 4 wins from 10 games, failing to make the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. The side was missing many key players with injury and All Blacks duties but still managed to drop many games they should have won. The best performance of the season came over Northland (52-17).
The Mako bounced back in 2023 as they made the quarter finals before losing to Taranaki, the most impressive wins came over Auckland (24-12), Manawatu (58-19) and Taranaki (18-29 in the regular season). Anton Segner had a stand out season and Alex Nankivell played his final season for the side after 81 appearances.
In 2024, Tasman reached the quarterfinals, where they lost 62–14 to Canterbury. The team began the season with seven consecutive wins, including a 25–24 victory over Hawke’s Bay, to win the Ranfurly Shield for the first time in the history of the union. The Mako retained the shield against Wellington and Auckland before losing it to Taranaki. Timoci Tavatavanawai beat 58 defenders and scored six tries in eight appearances before suffering an injury. William Havili scored 104 points, all from the kicking tee, while Ryan Coxon, Tim O’Malley and Sam Matenga each made their 50th appearances for the team. Tasman fielded eight debutants against Otago and also recorded wins over Manawatu, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty and Waikato.
The Mako had a disappointing season in 2025, despite many injuries and All Black selections of key players by the end of the season, Tasman were highly rated with a stacked team at the start of the season but were destroyed 37-7 by Bay of Plenty in Round 1, before bouncing back with strong wins over Manawatu (49-17), Northland (14-28) and North Harbour (19-43). The following game, after the sad passing of Tasman legend Shane Christie just days before, the Mako beat Otago 31-27 with an overtime try from a lineout drive, but following this lost 21-29 to Auckland, 31-25 to Canterbury in a Ranfurly Shield challenge which was arguably the best performance of the season from the Mako, and 24-29 to Waikato, the side played well at times during these games but failed to execute in key moments. A 38-55 win over Southland was Tasman's final win of the season before being beat 41-49 by Counties Manukau and again by Bay of Plenty (27-7) in the quarter finals. Tomasi Maka had a stand out season scoring 9 tries, while Fletcher Anderson also had a breakthrough season. Wingers Macca Springer and Kyren Taumoefolau scored 14 tries between them, while captain David Havili passed the clubs try scoring record of Mako legend Robbie Malneek, with Havili scoring his 26th to pass him in Round 9 against Southland. Leicester Fainga'anuku was also a stand out after returning from France before getting called up to join the All Blacks. Ethan Blackadder and Sione Havili Talitui both brought up 50 games during the season, in what was the final season in New Zealand for Havili Talitui along with veterans Quinten Strange and Levi Aumua.
Ranfurly Shield
Tasman had not held the Ranfurly Shield until Round 5 of the 2024 Bunnings NPC where they beat holders Hawke's Bay 24–25 at McLean Park in a famous overtime victory with Campbell Parata kicking a penalty goal from half way to win. The Mako successfully defended the shield against Wellington and Auckland, before losing it to Taranaki in Round 9. Marlborough held the shield for six challenges in 1973.
Other than their first and only time winning the shield in 2024 Tasman have been involved in six Ranfurly Shield challenges since the union's inception in 2006. Tasman lost their first challenge 26–20 to Wellington in 2008, and their second challenge 49–40 to Taranaki in 2012. Their third challenge was against Hawke's Bay in 2021, where they were defeated 34–22. They had another challenge in 2023, a 7–0 loss to Wellington. Their most recent challenges were a 31–25 loss to Canterbury, a thriller in Christchurch during the 2025 season and a loss to the Northland Taniwha 20–10 in 2026.
Season standings
The following is a summary of every season for the Tasman Mako since 2006.
Key:
Blue bar denotes Championship division
Green fill denotes Cup winner
Records and statistics
All Blacks
Players that have represented Tasman Mako in any fixture since their inception in 2006, and also played for the All Blacks.
# Represents the players 'All Black cap number'.
Centurions
Players that have played 100 or more games for the Tasman Mako since their inception in 2006.
# Represents the players 'Tasman Mako cap number'.
Source: New Zealand Rugby History
50 or more
Players that have played 50 or more games for the Tasman Mako since their inception in 2006.
# Represents the players 'Tasman Mako cap number'.
Source: New Zealand Rugby History
Top points scorers
Source: New Zealand Rugby History
Top try scorers
Source: New Zealand Rugby History