Chiefs

The NZRU founded the Chiefs in 1996, then known as the Waikato Chiefs, and in that year they played in the first ever Super 12 (now known as Super Rugby) season. Their first season was a decent one in which they finished 6th on the ladder.

Unfortunately, though, they did not make it to the playoff stage, and a year later in 1997 they endured a worse season, finishing 11^th overall. The following two years saw the Chiefs place 7^th and 6^th respectively, but it was still not enough to advance to the playoffs.

In 2004, the Chiefs enjoyed their best season since their creation, finishing 4^th and advancing to the semi-finals, which they lost to the Brumbies. They then had to wait a few years until reaching the playoffs again in 2009. That year, the Chiefs narrowly beat the Hurricanes 14–10 to go one better than 2004 and advance to their first final. They ended up losing the final to the Bulls 61–17, in what was quite a humiliation. Nevertheless, the Chiefs would soon go on to build on this season.

After a few disappointing years, the Chiefs enjoyed a fantastic campaign in 2012 under the head coaches Dave Rennie and Wayne Smith. They came out on top in the New Zealand conference at the end of the regular season and advanced to the semi-finals. They played the semi-final match at their home ground, beating the Crusaders 20–17 in a hard-fought contest and earning a home final for the first time. In the final, they played the Sharks, and unlike the previous game, the Chiefs beat them with relative ease by a scoreline of 37–6. This was their first Super Rugby trophy, one which they would immediately add to the following season when they beat the Brumbies in the 2013 final.

In recent years, the Chiefs have enjoyed successful seasons, though they have been unable to replicate their title wins. They lost the final in 2021 to the Crusaders as well as the 2022 semi-final, again to the Crusaders.