The Ground We Won


"The game [rugby] has produced little of greatness in cinema. Until now."

Paul Byrnes, The Sydney Morning Herald


"The Ground We Won is a startling, ferociously intelligent, disturbing, heart-warming

and hauntingly beautiful piece of film making... An instant national classic"

★★★★★ 5 Stars - Graeme Tuckett - Dominion Post


"One of the most powerfully cinematic NZ movies ever."

★★★★★ 5 Stars - Dominc Corry, Herald on Sunday


"This is so much more than just rugby... Compulsory viewing for everyone."

★★★★★ 5 Stars - Sarah McMullan, Radio NZ


"Accolades have been pouring... the raves are completely warranted."

★★★★★ 5 Stars - Sarah Watt, Sunday Star Times


"In one word: magnificent. In two: see this."

★★★★1/2 - David Larsen - NZ Listener


“The Ground We Won is a visually ravishing record… of a very Kiwi slice of life that mixes the poetic with the prosaic,

the everyday with the quasi-mythological and introduces us to a memorable cast of characters.”

★★★★ 4 Stars - Peter Calder, NZ Herald


"Moments of contemplative beauty rub shoulders with vigorous forward play..."

★★★★★ 5 Stars - Steven Newell, Flicks.co.nz


"It's an intimate and unobtrusive movie, but one that says more about the life that matters most than any doco has done before."

★★★★ 4 Stars - Darren's World of Entertainment


"Moving, funny, at times heart wrenching and pulse pounding as the team rush towards a final try,

The Ground We Won is a marvellous cinematic experience,

and one of the truest representations of the New Zealand character ever committed to film"

Samuel Hames, Spicy Pulp


"Made with such respect and skill, it’s easy to see The Ground We Won travelling well both within our borders and beyond.

There’s an impressive duality to the film, a piece of work that so perfectly captures New Zealand but also remains startlingly universal."

Cinema Aotearoa


"A strikingly beautiful paean to the sometimes brutal business of being a male..."

★★★★ 4 Stars - Metro Magazine


"A riveting study of the stuff NZ does so well; play rugby, milk cows, drink insensibly and make great movies."

Russell Baille, NZ Herald


“From the directing team who made the beautifully insightful documentary How Far is Heaven.

These are important filmmakers working in the under-served area of rural and small-town New Zealand,

and here they mine a vein of pure social-commentary gold.”

David Larsen - NZ Listener


"The Ground We Won is an indispensable statement of Kiwi identity, and the rare film

whose essential modesty makes the strong case for its immediate inclusion

in the New Zealand canon—not just of great documentaries, but of great films."

Doug Dillaman - Lumiere Reader