1976 National Provincial Championship

The 1976 season was the inaugural year of the National Provincial Championship (NPC), 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.

Promotion/relegation matches
As North Auckland came last in Division 1, the unbeaten winners of Division 2 (North Island), Taranaki, were promoted to Division 1 to replace them.

South Canterbury won Division 2 (South Island), giving them a promotion play-off against Southland; they lost the game 24–11 remained in Division 2.