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
Forsyth Barr Stadium of irrigation and 40 automated sprinkler heads. It consists of three different types of seed, 3200m3 of sand, soil and compost in three different layers. Due to the perceived high cost of maintaining the turf, proposals have been made to replace the grass/artificial turf with a 100% artificial turf, which would limit the attractiveness of the venue for high earning events like rugby test matches (for which the stadium was initially proposed to replace Carisbrook). Hawkins Construction began work on the site during May 2009. It was completed in August 2011. During construction, 609 piles were driven to support stadium