Bay of Plenty also acts as a primary feeder to the Chiefs, who play in the Super Rugby competition.

Bay of Plenty played a prominent role in the early history of rugby in New Zealand.

McLean was the first of 22 men who have represented New Zealand while wearing the blue and gold hoops, in addition to the many players who received their rugby education in the Bay of Plenty before achieving higher honours elsewhere.

As the heartland of Maori rugby the region has produced a large number of Māori All Blacks, while age group and secondary school teams from throughout the union have also established a long and successful heritage that is the envy of many.

Sam Cane who hails from Reporoa is the most capped All Black who has represented Bay of Plenty.

Reid was selected for the All Blacks in 1980 when test incumbent Andy Dalton was unavailable for what turned out to be a disappointing tour of Australia.

Greg Rowlands, a 1976 All Black to Argentina, holds the record for the most games – 161 – and most points – 1008 – for Bay of Plenty.

[1] There are also plans for a 20,000 seat boutique stadium, to help revitalise the city centre of Tauranga which has struggled due to the development of suburban malls and earthquake strengthening closing a number of CBD buildings.

Stage One runs for 6–7 weeks, clubs are put into their respective sub-unions and complete a local competition.

The semi-finals and finals are played over two weeks and the Premier Division Champions win the Kusabs Cup.

In recent years the Tauranga Raptors have won the premier title in the Bay of Plenty four consecutive times 2007–10.

The Baywide Club Championship (rather than sub-union club championships) started in 1990, list of champions:[2] This is a list of players who have represented New Zealand from the Bay of Plenty representative rugby union team.