The country of New Zealand is made up of two main islands, the North Island along with the South Island. The South Island is larger amongst the two islands but is however less populous than the North Island. Although the South Island is called the Mainland, only a quarter of the total population of New Zealand inhabit this place. South island rose into prominence primarily through the gold rush period when most of the European settlers aimed at this area as their primary area of settlement.
Sports play an exceptionally dominant role within the South Islanders life-style. Probably the most popular sports in this region are rugby, cricket and netball. The most famous sport in South Island is Rugby and also this sport is also the national sport. Some of the other sports that enjoy some level of popularity in this area are Ice Hockey, basketball and football.
The South Island has separate teams that participate in Rugby League and Rugby Union matches. Their team that participates in the Rugby League matches is known as the Canterbury Bulls. This team is based out of the largest city in South Island called Christchurch and also have held it’s place in the sports news for winning several Bartercard Cups.
There are a variety of teams in South Island that play the Rugby Union Matches. The Crusaders, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, Southland Stags, the Highlanders, Tasman Makos, Buller, Mid Canterbury, South Canterbury, West Coast Rugby Football Union and North Otago are some of the popular teams that play rugby union matches.
Amongst all the teams that play rugby union, it is the Crusaders who enjoy being by far the most successful. Based out of Christchurch, this team was formerly known as the Canterbury Crusaders and participates in the Super 14 championships. This team is additionally regarded as being essentially the most successful teams in the history of Super Rugby. This franchisee also represents the provincial rugby union teams including Mid Canterbury, South Canterbury, Buller, West Coast Rugby Football Union and Tasman Makos.
The Crusaders were formed in 1996 so as to represent South Island in the Super 12matches. This team experienced a dismal start and finished in the last spot in their first season. Their upswing began from 1998 from where they went on a winning spree. They have been consistent winners and also have won five Super 12 trophies. With their fifth win, the Crusaders were also given the Super 12 trophy for keeps.
Following the Super 12 victories, the Crusaders happen to be playing the Super 14 since its inauguration in 2006. They have already claimed two victories both in the Super 14 seasons taking their amount of title wins to seven.
Apart from being in the news because of their fantastic winning records, this team from South Island also holds several records. The primary of those competition records being the top number of points scored within a game and the most number of tries in a game. Along with this all time high also comes a record of an all time low competition record in which the Crusaders scored the minimum number of points in the game against the Otago Highlanders.