Robert Kururangi

Robert Kururangi was born on 4 July 1957 in Gisborne, on New Zealand's East Coast. He grew up in a rugby-mad region and attended Gisborne Boys' High School, where he built the pace and finishing instinct that later made him a provincial and national wing. As a teenager he represented North Island age-group sides, then moved north to Auckland's Counties region, joining the Ardmore club and breaking into the Counties provincial team.

Between 1977 and 1984 he became a Counties Manukau fixture as Steeler number 236. Contemporary rugby histories credit him with 91 provincial appearances in that core spell (some compiled career tables extend his provincial tally into 1988 and toward about 100 games). He scored regularly from the wing and centre, and he helped Counties claim the 1979 National Provincial Championship first-division title, still the only NPC championship in the union's history. Teammates and later provincial chroniclers remembered him as a sharp outside back in a side that punched above its weight against New Zealand's traditional powerhouses.

In 1978, still only 21, Kururangi was selected in Graham Mourie's All Blacks party for the tour of Britain and Ireland. Listed among the three-quarters alongside Stu Wilson, Bryan Williams, Bruce Robertson and others, he played eight tour matches and scored four tries. He did not appear in the four internationals, yet he belonged to the first All Black squad to complete a Grand Slam against Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. New Zealand Rugby History records him as All Black number 786. The tour's only defeat came against Munster at Thomond Park; the tests were all won, three of them narrowly.

Four years later he toured Wales and Spain with the New Zealand Maori side, adding another layer of representative honour. Year-by-year provincial tallies from rugbyhistory.co.nz show persistent try-scoring form through the early 1980s, with peak seasons such as 1982 (11 tries in 15 provincial games) and further North Island and invitation XV appearances. Across a compiled career of more than 130 first-class games he scored close to 280 points, almost all from tries in an era before the modern four-point try was universal.

Away from the paddock, family life was both central and complicated. While on the 1978 tour he met Yvonne Wilson in Northern Ireland. They later married, had children including Emma-Jayne, and settled for a time in Mangere Bridge. Kururangi already had a child from a previous relationship. The marriage broke down in the early 1990s amid custody conflict. He later had three further children with a new partner, including daughters Ariel and Gabbie, and returned for stretches to the East Coast while also building a rigging business and coaching children's sport. Ariel later described him as a humble, practical father who taught outdoor skills, worked long days, and looked after whanau in need.

In 2023 those family fractures returned to public view when Kururangi stood trial in Manukau District Court on seven historic charges of sexually violating and indecently assaulting his daughter Emma-Jayne, relating to allegations from when she was aged about five to eight. Emma-Jayne lifted her automatic name suppression. Kururangi denied the allegations. A jury returned unanimous not-guilty verdicts on all seven charges in under three hours. In a subsequent NZME interview he described the ordeal as a shock that forced him to dig deep with family support, and he pointed to the speed of the acquittal. His daughter continued to stand by her allegations after the verdict; the legal result remains a full acquittal.

In May 2026, New Zealand Food Safety (Ministry for Primary Industries) successfully prosecuted him over an unregulated pig home-kill and meat-sales operation linked to an Auckland farm property. Sentenced on 5 May 2026 as Robert Ngaru Kururangi, then aged 68, he was fined $6,000 on three Animal Products Act charges after investigators found sales continuing despite a 2022 Notice of Direction.

Kururangi's death was reported on 2 October 2026 by Counties Sports Hub and entered on Wikipedia as October 2026, aged 69. No cause of death was made public. Tributes framed him first as a Counties legend and former All Black wing whose 1979 title medal and 1978 black jersey still matter in Franklin and Gisborne rugby memory. He is remembered for pace on the wing, loyalty to Counties and Ardmore, and a life that spanned sporting honour, family devotion, and very public legal chapters that ended with an acquittal in 2023 and a food-safety conviction in 2026.