We hope you enjoy this look back as we look forward to many more years of recording the history of Buller Rugby Union.
We acknowledge all the information from the NZ “Rugby Almanack” Series since 1934 and appreciate their hard and dedicated work in providing this detailed history. – Web Admin

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Results

Mon 07 Apr	2:30 pm	H	Representative	Victoria (Aus)	06 - 29	Match Center
Mon 02 Jun	2:30 pm	H	Div2 Sth-NPC	Nelson Bays	00 - 16	Match Center
Sat 21 Jun	2:30 pm	A	Div2 Sth-NPC	North Otago	07 - 17	Match Center
Wed 09 Jul	2:30 pm	H	Div2 Sth-NPC	Mid Canterbury	09 - 16	Match Center
Sat 19 Jul	2:30 pm	A	Seddon Shield	Marlborough	16 - 12	Match Center
Sat 09 Aug	2:30 pm	A	Div2 Sth-NPC	West Coast	32 - 09	Match Center
Sat 23 Aug	2:30 pm	H	Representative	Canterbury B	00 - 21	Match Center
Thu 04 Sep	2:30 pm	H	Div2 Sth-NPC	Marlborough	00 - 15	Match Center
Sat 13 Sep	2:30 pm	H	Representative	NZ Combined Services	00 - 35	Match Center

THE 1980 SEASON:

Buller began the decade of the 1980’s disappointingly in what was in many ways the most unsatisfying season of the last twenty five.

The promise of the previous year seemed to dissipate and all nine matches were lost.

Even worse was the fact that in the nine matches, Buller could muster only two tries, could reach double figures only once and in four matches failed to score at all.

To add insult to injury, the 32-9 defeat by West Coast was the second largest in Buller’s history, being exceeded only by the 35-8 loss in 1933.

Given the lack of form, it was, perhaps, not surprising that selector Brian Stack used 32 players in an attempt to find the correct combination with four players only representing Buller in all nine games (Charlie Neighbours, Piet Groot, Des Taylor and Neville Gear).

Some hope for the future could be seen in the fact that ten of the 32 players used were in their first season for Buller and that the strongest performance of the season came in the game in which Buller traditionally gives its all, the Seddon Shield challenge, which in this case was lost by the narrow margin of 16-12, when, on form, a much heavier defeat might have been expected.

Matches played were:

v Victoria at Westport Lost 6-20
v Nelson-Bays at Westport Lost 0-16
v North Otago at Oamaru Lost 7-17
v Mid-Canterbury at Westport Lost 9-16
v Marlborough at Blenheim Lost 12-16 {Seddon Shield}
v West Coast at Hokitika Lost 9-32
v Canterbury XV at Westport Lost 0-21
v Marlborough at Westport Lost 0-15
v NZ Combined Services at Westport Lost 0-35

Scorers were

v Victoria: Rex Mumm (2 penalties)
v Nelson-Bays: No scorers
v North Otago: Robert Neame (try), Paul Bonisch (penalty)
v Mid-Canterbury: Charlie Neighbours (try), Paul Bonisch (penalty, conversion)
v Marlborough: Paul Bonisch (4 penalties)
v West Coast: Rex Mumm (3 penalties)
v Canterbury XV: No scorers
v Marlborough: No scorers
v Combined Services: No scorers