2015 The All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup

Rugby union - almost universally referred to as rugby in New Zealand - was introduced to New Zealand by Charles Monro in 1870. The first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, and in 1882 New Zealand's first internationals were played when New South Wales toured the country. The team entered the 2015 Rugby World Cup and they defeated France 62-13 in the Quarter-Final, South Africa 20-18 in the Semi-Final and Australia 34-17 in the Final to become the first nation to retain their World Champion title and the first to win the Rugby World Cup three times (the only team to ever win the tournament twice in a row).

2011 Christchurch earthquakes

On Saturday 4 September 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Christchurch. It caused widespread damage to the city and minor injuries, but no direct fatalities. Nearly six months later on Tuesday 22 February 2011, a second earthquake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck the city. The intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area and in total 185 people were killed. On 13 June 2011 Christchurch was hit by two more large aftershocks. A magnitude 5.6 quake followed by another quake at magnitude 6.3. There were no fatalities though it resulted in further liquefaction and building damage. Christchurch was again rattled awake on 2 January 2012. 4,558 earthquakes were recorded in the Canterbury region above a magnitude 3.0, from 4 September 2010 to 3 September 2014.

2010 Pike River mine explosion

The Pike River Mine disaster was a coal mining accident that began on 19 November 2010 in the Pike River Mine, 46 kilometres (29 mi) northeast of Greymouth, in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. At the time of the explosion 31 miners and contractors were present in the mine. Two miners managed to walk from the mine, the remaining 16 miners and 13 contractors, were believed to be at least 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) from the mine's entrance. The Pike River Mine incident ranks as New Zealand's worst mining disaster since 1914, when 43 men died at Ralph's Mine in Huntly.