1976 National Provincial Championship
The 1976 season was the inaugural year of the National Provincial Championship, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Radio New Zealand National Championship, a provincial rugby union competition in New Zealand. Bay of Plenty were the winners of Division 1, while Taranaki and South Canterbury were the winners of Division 2 North Island and Division 2 South Island respectively.
Division 2 (North Island)
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | Pts |
| 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 209 | 49 | +160 | 28 | 16 | |
| 2 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 216 | 87 | +129 | 31 | 14 | |
| 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 110 | 144 | −34 | 9 | 9 | |
| 4 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 92 | 115 | −23 | 11 | 8 | |
| 5 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 173 | 76 | +97 | 28 | 8 | |
| 6 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 98 | 107 | −9 | 13 | 8 | |
| 7 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 41 | 214 | −173 | 6 | 4 | |
| 8 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 70 | 128 | −58 | 6 | 3 | |
| 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 94 | 183 | −89 | 15 | 2 |
Division 2 (South Island)
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | Pts |
| 1 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 103 | 39 | +64 | 14 | 8 | |
| 2 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 64 | 40 | +24 | 9 | 6 | |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 72 | 77 | −5 | 11 | 6 | |
| 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 50 | 55 | −5 | 6 | 5 | |
| 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 59 | 63 | −4 | 6 | 3 | |
| 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 41 | 115 | −74 | 6 | 2 |
Promotion/relegation matches
As North Auckland came last in Division 1, the unbeaten winners of Division 2, Taranaki, were promoted to Division 1 to replace them.South Canterbury won Division 2, giving them a promotion play-off against Southland; they lost the game 24–11 remained in Division 2.