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 01 Jun	2:30 pm	A	Div3 - NPC	West Coast	03 - 31	Match Center
Sat 04 Jul	2:30 pm	A	Seddon Shield	Marlborough	14 - 41	Match Center
Sat 18 Jul	2:30 pm	H	Seddon Shield	Nelson Bays	16 - 22	Match Center
Tue 11 Aug	2:30 pm	H	Div3 - NPC	Mid Canterbury	08 - 10	Match Center
Sat 15 Aug	2:30 pm	H	Div3 - NPC	Marlborough	27 - 03	Match Center
Sat 22 Aug	2:30 pm	H	Div3 - NPC	East Coast	28 - 10	Match Center
Wed 26 Aug	2:30 pm	H	Div3 - NPC	North Otago	34 - 06	Match Center
Wed 02 Sep	2:30 pm	A	Div3 - NPC	Whanganui	29 - 00	Match Center
Sat 05 Sep	2:30 pm	A	Div3 - NPC	Horowhenua Kapiti	41 - 11	Match Center
Sat 12 Sep	2:30 pm	A	Div3 - NPC	Nelson Bays	29 - 15	Match Center

THE 1992 SEASON:

1992 was another watershed year for New Zealand Rugby with a try becoming worth five points and a whole raft of new laws for players, coaches and referees to contend with.

Match scores became larger. One Representative team lost one match 128-0. The All Blacks toured South Africa and Australia. National teams from Ireland, England, Western Samoa, Canada, Fiji and Tonga, as well as a World XV squad played in New Zealand.

A new format for the National Championships was introduced with play-off among the top four in each Division.

In the midst of all this activity, Buller again won then lost the Seddon Shield and only one minute’s madness kept it out of a spot in the play-offs and possible promotion to Division II.

The 1992 season was a very successful one over-all. The Buller team was young but was rapidly gaining both experience and self-confidence. Six of the eleven games played were won and for a long period Buller led the Division III Championship Points Table and looked set for the play-offs.

What prevented this was one agonizing minute towards the end of the match against Mid-Canterbury in which Buller had been totally dominant and looked set to score to drive the final nail into the visitor’s coffin.

Alas, a dropped ball saw Mid-Canterbury come back from the dead and score in the opposite corner to draw level. Even a draw would have put Buller through to the play-offs but, as Buller supporters watched in agonized horror, amazingly the try was converted and in the final analysis, this was what put Mid-Canterbury and not Buller into the play-offs.

The season did have highlights, however. The promise of the previous year was fulfilled when Buller posted a record score against Marlborough to win the Seddon Shield by 41-14.

This was a record in many ways. The highest score ever conceded by the holders, the biggest ever points margin by Buller over Marlborough and the highest score ever achieved by Buller in any game.

This victory was not a fluke as was proved when Marlborough was again convincingly beaten in the National Championship match.

Yet again, however, the Shield proved harder to hold than to win and Nelson-Bays defeated Buller 22-16 to take the Shield back to Nelson in the first Buller defence. The team of 1992 was hungry for points and, for the first time in Buller’s history, scored more than 200 points in a season and also had the highest margin of points for as compared to points against in Buller’s history. The number of players who scored points for Buller during the season (14) was also a Buller record.

There were also personal highlights. John Brazil played his 50th game for Buller against North Otago, while Tony O’Dea reached his half century in the Seddon Shield challenge at Blenheim.

Thomas Stuart equaled Edward Holder’s long standing record of nine tries in a season for Buller, set in 1935 and also passed 100 points for Buller when he scored against Marlborough in the National Championship match.

It is fashionable to say that today’s players have many more opportunities for scoring than did players of the past but it is interesting to note that both Holder and Stuart played the same number of games (11) in their respective record setting seasons.

Matches played were:-

v West Coast at Greymouth Won 31-3
v Ellesmere at Westport Won 24-20  {non-first class match}
v Marlborough* at Blenheim Won 41-14 {Seddon Shield}
v Nelson-Bays* at Westport Lost 16-22 {Seddon Shield}
v Mid-Canterbury at Westport Lost 8-10
v Marlborough at Westport Won 27-3
v East Coast at Westport Won 28-10
v North Otago at Westport Won 34-6
v Wanganui at Wanganui Lost 0-29
v Horowhenua at Levin Lost 11-41
v Nelson-Bays at Motueka Lost 15-29

Scorers were:

v West Coast: Thomas Stuart (4 tries), Craig Neill (3 conversions, 3 penalties)
v Ellesmere: Thomas Stuart (try), Gerard O’Connor (try), Michael Coghlan (try), Craig Neill (3 penalties)
v Marlborough: Thomas Stuart (try), John Brazil (try), Dougal Hurst (try), Chris Alexander (try), Penalty Try, Craig Neill (try, conversion), Tony Pratt (3 conversions, penalty)
v Nelson-Bays: John Brazil (try), Craig Neill (3 penalties, conversion)
v Mid-Canterbury: Graeme O’Dea (try), Tony Pratt (penalty)
v Marlborough: Thomas Stuart (try), Tony Pratt (5 penalties, conversion), Penalty Try
v East Coast: Danny Pratt (2 tries), Kerry Roche (drop goal), Tony Pratt (5 penalties)
v North Otago: Warwick Tipping (2 tries), Glenn Elley (try), Thomas Stuart (try), Tony Pratt (4 penalties, conversion)
v Wanganui: No scorers
v Horowhenua: Graeme O’Dea (try), Tony Pratt (2 penalties)
v Nelson-Bays: Wayne Patterson (try), Thomas Stuart (try), Tony Pratt (conversion, penalty)

1992 Players

			Position	PL	TR	CON	PEN	DG
	Anthony Christopher 'Tony' Pratt		First Five	9	0	6	19	0
	Anthony Patrick 'Tony' O’Dea			4	0	0	0	0
	Christopher Martin 'Chris' Alexander		Scrumhalf	10	1	0	0	0
	Craig William Neill		Centre, Winger	5	1	5	6	0
	Danny M. Pratt		Lock	10	2	0	0	0
	Dougal G. Hurst		Hooker	10	1	0	0	0
	Gerard Joseph O'Connor		Flanker	9	0	0	0	0
	Glen H. Haines		Winger	1	0	0	0	0
	Glenn Percival Elley		Flanker	10	1	0	0	0
	Graeme Walsh		Prop	1	0	0	0	0
	Graeme William O’Dea		Centre	7	2	0	0	0
	John McHerron		Prop	2	0	0	0	0
	John Patrick Brazil		Prop	9	2	0	0	0
	Kerry Peter Roche		First Five	9	0	0	0	1
	Michael Francis Bonisch		First Five/Fullback	8	0	0	0	0
	Michael Joseph Coghlan		Centre	3	0	0	0	0
	Paul J. Marris		Winger	2	0	0	0	0
	Penalty Try			2	2	0	0	0
	Robert Francis Cook		Centre	10	0	0	0	0
	Stephen John Martin		Lock	10	0	0	0	0
	Thomas John Stuart		Loose Forward	10	8	0	0	0
	Warren K. Lee		Flanker	2	0	0	0	0
	Warrick Tipping		Winger	4	2	0	0	0
	Wayne Thomas Patterson		Prop	10	1	0	0	0