The First Super Rugby Game - 1996

The first professional rugby match in New Zealand was played in Palmerston North on the 1st of March 1996 between the newly formed sides, the Wellington [sic] Hurricanes and the mighty Auckland [sic] Blues.  The Hurricanes featured five All Blacks in their squad, but on paper were no match for the Blues who had 12 All Blacks. Many of them leading players of their generation, and 20 year old global sensation Jonah Lomu.

The game signalled the start of a new era in rugby, a fully professional rugby competition.  Players were fitter, stronger and faster than the previous year. They had been in camps as early as November 1995, with personalised fitness programmes. They were better coached and prepared.  The match would be played in late summer, on a firm ground, in a rural city, a rugby heartland town – Palmerston North.

The road to professionalism had been a long-time coming, it had been 1895 when rugby league had broken away from rugby over the issue of player payments.  All Blacks had defected to league over the decades but, the late 1980s saw a surge in top-flight All Blacks leaving.  The pay offers were mouth-watering and even second-tier players were creating successful professional careers.

Yet national rugby unions still clung to their amateur ethos. The final nail in the coffin for the amateur game was a 1995 move by Australian entrepreneur, Kerry Packer, creating a new break-away global rugby competition.  An eight-team competition comprising the top international teams, run by the new World Rugby Corporation.  Players who signed up to this were set to receive US $1M over a 3-year period.  It was reported that most of the All Blacks were agreeable and signed letters of intent with the new body.

The New Zealand Rugby Union could call on the services of highly skilled people.  Former All Blacks captains, lawyer Jock Hobbs, and Sir Brian Lochore, both men of esteem.  NZRFU Chair, Richie Guy was actively in discussions with his counterparts in Australia and South Africa.  And Kerry Packer had a rival, Rupert Murdoch.

Packer and Murdoch were already in a bidding war over the rights to Australian Rugby League (NRL).

Murdoch’s rival offer was US $550M for the broadcasting rights for ten years of a new “Super” competition, and a Tri-Nations Championship, where the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks would play each other twice each year.  The competitions would be run by the traditional national rugby unions, and were largely familiar to the players.

The WRC bid crumbled as players increasingly chose the Murdoch backed deal peddled by Hobbs.  The NZRFU celebrated the signing of Jeff Wilson and Josh Kronfeld, who were the first All Blacks to sign.

Discussions weren’t just about money, players wanted to know about this new “Super” competition, officials were under time-pressure to come up with the answers.  New Zealand provincial unions favoured new regional sides that represented multiple unions.  The five regional sides were then given brand names - the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders were born.

They would play each other, three Australian teams, and four South African teams. The top four would play off and then a final would decide the overall winner.

The Coaches were contracted, and the New Zealand Union itself began paying its board members.  Coaches selected players out of their particular region, the Hurricanes region, coached by Frank Oliver, included Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and Manawatu. Once 21 players had been named, the rest of the squad could be selected from remaining players elsewhere.

In November 1995 the Hurricanes assembled for their first training camp, unheard of in the amateur era. By January the Hurricanes manager Tony Bedford reported that the players were fitter than previous years and fringe players not contracted to the Super competition had been training with their contemporaries on the off-chance of an injury.

Meanwhile the television rights to show the new competition were sold and Sky TV won. The New Zealand public rushed to install satellite dishes. It was estimated that 600,000 households had Sky TV, and it was thanks to Super Rugby and the Tri-Nations.

When the Super 12 draw was announced the first game was chosen to coincide with the Telecom National Sevens, which had been held in Palmerston North for several years.  It was billed as a Festival of Rugby.

25 Hospitality tents ringed the ground and quickly sold out, the grandstand too, and even the general admission tickets.  There would be no walk-ups.

Rousing pre-match entertainment got the crowd in a boisterous mood. It included a Women’s match, biplane aerobatics, bands, a giant haka, a motorcade, and cannons.  The blast from the latter rattled the grandstand windows.

Blues captain Zinzan Brooke ran on to the field bursting through a paper banner.  A few minutes later the Hurricanes ran on through a Hurricanes banner while the crowd roared for their captain Mark “Bull” Allen.

The Blues were heavy favourites, but the Hurricanes played up for the crowd.  Wellington All Black Alama Ieremia scored the first try of the competition.  Taranaki first five-eighth Jamie Cameron knocked the kicks over and the Hurricanes went out to a 16 – nil lead.  The Blues slowly came to life and began picking up tries, their first scored by Andrew Blowers, but their kicking game was off.  The Hurricanes doggedly held on.  It was only in the last five minutes when the Blues Horowhenua first five-eighth Carlos Spencer scored to put them in an unbeatable position.  A win for the Blues 36-28.

It had been a thrilling contest and the media were gushing with praise. Marc Hinton wrote, “Passion on pay day. It was March madness. Cannons blasted, fireworks shot into the air, mass haka[s] reverberated round the ground and, oh yes, the rugby wasn’t half bad either. Passion, intensity, commitment…”  Peter Lampp writing for the Evening Standard, “Explosive start to the game, new age in rugby is born. A battery of ancient cannons signalled a night of explosiveness for the world’s first professional Super 12 rugby match.”  Bull Allen said, “You would think this has been the Hurricanes home ground for years. If this is pro rugby it’s great, and great to be part of such atmosphere.”  The Blues and All Blacks hooker and captain, Sean Fitzpatrick said, “It was wonderful. A very physical game, the whole atmosphere, the crowd, the way they (the Hurricanes) played, I just enjoyed it.”