| Richie Hunt | |
| Birth Name: | Richard John Hunt |
| Birth Date: | 30 March 1948 |
| School: | Hastings Boys' High School |
| Ru Position: | Hooker |
| Ru Province: | Hawke's Bay |
| Ru Provinceyears: | 1967–1983 |
| Ru Provincecaps: | 147 |
| Ru Provincepoints: | (16) |
| Coachyears1: | 1986–1989 |
| Coachteams1: | Hawke's Bay |
Richard John Hunt (born 30 March 1948) is a former New Zealand rugby union player, coach and administrator.
Hunt played 147 first-class games for between 1967 and 1983.[1] In 1970 he was nominated for the Junior All Black trials.[2]
After retiring from his long playing career he was Hawke's Bay's coach where he was known for his sharp team talks and one-liners. He later worked in haulage transport.[3]
He became chairman of the Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union and fought for Hawke's Bay's inclusion in the top division of the revamped Air New Zealand Cup after a 2005 reform of the National Provincial Championship.[1] [4] Hunt regarded helping Hawke's Bay gain premier division status in 2006 as the highlight of his career in rugby administration.[5]
With the support of several other smaller North Island provincial unions (and) he stood for a seat on the New Zealand Rugby Union's board of directors against former All Black captain Graham Mourie.[3] He was beaten 51–38 by Mourie at the 2010 New Zealand Rugby Union annual meeting. The next year he was elected to the board to fill the resignation of Jock Hobbs.[5] He was later the president of the New Zealand Polo Association.[6]