Bay of Plenty in 2011 Business & Economic Research Limited (BERL) identified the Bay of Plenty as one of the top performing regions in economic development, ranking second behind Auckland. It had the highest employment and GDP growth for 2011 and had the fastest growing medium term GDP. Tauranga, the region's largest commercial centre, was named New Zealand's top city for economic performance for the 2011 year. 67.1% of the resident population in the Bay of Plenty identified with the European ethnic group, while 27.5% of people identified themselves as Māori. This compared with 67.6% of the national population identifying themselves as ethnic
Bay of Plenty Rugby Union had also slipped behind Fitzpatrick, and he was overlooked for the 1987 World Cup. Greg Rowlands, a 1976 All Black to Argentina, holds the record for the most games – 161 – and most points – 1008 – for Bay of Plenty. 1976 2004 (1) In addition to the Men's 1st XV, the BOPRU has a number of other representative teams for both Men and Women. BOPRU is part of the Women's Provincial Championship. The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union holds union-wide and sub-union competitions including the Kusabs Cup, the premier Bay of Plenty rugby trophy starting in 1912. It