The Otago Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union for the Otago region of New Zealand. The union is based in the city of Dunedin, and its home ground is Forsyth Barr Stadium. The top representative team competes in the ITM Cup, New Zealand's top provincial competition. The union was to have been liquidated in March 2012. However a deal involving the Dunedin City Council allowed it to keep operating. Otago have won the Ranfurly Shield on seven occasions (1935, 1938, 1947, 1957, 2013, 2018 and 2020). They were the National provincial championship winners in 1991 and 1998. They have a proud record playing international teams, having defeated South Africa and the British and Irish Lions.
History (1881-1975) The Otago Rugby Football Union was founded in 1881 and celebrated its 125th year in 2006.
Ranfurly Shield
Otago held the Ranfurly Shield between 1935 and 1938 and successfully defended it eight times, and then again in 1938 for a further five defences. They had a successful run between 1947 and 1950 defending the shield on eighteen occasions before losing it.
Otago then won it in 1957 and defended it once before losing it to Taranaki 11–9, after leading 9-0 earlier in the game. Afterwards the Otago coach Charlie Saxton told the Taranaki captain Peter Burke that 'the better team lost'. Burke replied: 'Charlie, you can say what you like, we've got the shield.'
Otago victories over the Lions (1950, 1959 and 1966) Otago has had a good record against the British and Irish Lions having beaten them in 1950 and 1959. In 1966, Otago again defeated the British and Irish Lions 17–9. On that day Carisbrook was full with 25,500 fans attending the game. Dave Edwards, playing on the wing, scored one try and Maurie Collins, playing on the opposite wing, scored two tries for Otago to help seal the victory.
The 1975 Otago rugby team was recognized as one of the greats as it won 15 games and only lost two games all season. They beat Scotland 19–15, Auckland 22-4 and went undefeated on their North Island tour.
National provincial championship (1976–2005) After the success of the 1975 team, a number of players left the team and performances slowly went downhill in the late 1970s. Otago came 7th in 1976; 9th in 1977; 9th in 1978 and 11th in 1979 in the national provincial championship.
Lee Smith was appointed the Otago coach in 1980 and coached the team for three years including against the 1981 South African team who Otago lost to 17–13 in a close game. During his coaching reign Otago played 52 games for 25 wins and 27 losses. Lee Smith was replaced by Laurie Mains as Otago coach for the 1983 season as the Otago team had narrowly avoided relegation from the first division in 1982 after coming in 10th place with 2 wins from 10 games.
1983 Laurie Mains appointed coach
In 1983, Otago provided an improved performance coming 7th in the National Provincial Championship. Captain Wayne Graham led the team to 4 wins, 2 draws (including a nil all draw with Auckland) and 4 losses.
1984 provided the best performance from an Otago team for some years as they achieved third place with seven wins and three losses. They also played France losing the game 20–10.
Laurie Mains appointed Mike Brewer when he was 20 years old as captain of Otago in 1985 to take over from Wayne Graham. Otago played a very structured game with the forwards attempting to dominate and Dean Kenny, John Haggart or Lindsay Smith kicking for position and attempting to force the opposition to make errors. Mike Brewer and Laurie Mains worked on a plan for Otago to improve with the aim to win the National Provincial Championship by 1992. Otago finished 5th in the National Provincial Championship in 1985. They defeated Auckland at Carisbrook 12–10, one week after Auckland had lifted the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury. Otago also played England at Carisbrook losing by 25 -16.
In 1986, Otago finished one better coming 4th in the National Provincial Championship. Outside of the NPC, Otago played East Coast winning a one sided game 91–10. Paul Turner scored two tries, kicked 14 conversions and one penalty.
Otago had had a good year in 1987 coming third in the National Provincial Championship. Otago won six games and lost four games. They played a further seven non championship games in 1987, winning all of them including a 51–7 victory over Sydney.