Rugby union in New Zealand editions (2000–2005), and again in 2007, 2008, and 2010–2014. New Zealand hosts one leg, the New Zealand International Sevens, at Westpac Stadium in Wellington. Rugby union in New Zealand Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. The national team, the All Blacks, ranks as the top international team in the world. The sport has been known in New Zealand from 1870. The top domestic competitions are the semi-professional ITM Cup and amateur Heartland Championship, and above them Super Rugby, in which New Zealand has five franchises. The country co-hosted and won the first ever Rugby World Cup
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium Olympics. The name Chichibunomiya commemorates the sporting prince, Prince Chichibu, who was not a rugby union player but was passionately fond of the sport and died in 1953. His statue is in the stadium. On February 3, 2008, snow prevented two Top League games being played in the 13th and final round of the fifth season. They were postponed to February 9. From 2012 through 2015, the stadium hosted the Japan Sevens, a newly created event on the circuit for men's national rugby sevens teams now known as the World Rugby Sevens Series. When inaugurated, the tournament was the seventh