The Howick Rugby Club was founded in 1920 and played its first competition games that year in the Auckland Rugby Union. Howick was then a small and remote town and served the wider Whitford and Pakuranga District. There is no record of the formation of any Rugby Club in the District prior to 1920, although it was known that the game was played, and those interested in competitive rugby travelled to Papatoetoe, or often to other Auckland Clubs. One or two teams each year from the Howick Club played competition rugby in the Auckland Rugby Union from 1920 to 1934. The 1960s saw planning for growth, and when the club outgrew its clubrooms at the Howick Domain, the Howick Borough Council was generous in assisting the club to find a larger playing area in the Pakuranga area. The club had to engage in wise and clear thinking as soccer and league, plus other rugby clubs were also moving into the area. A meeting was convened in October 1964 at St Kentigern College, and called upon all district rugby people to attend, as well as invitations being given to members of the Bucklands Beach Rugby Club. At the meeting, a motion was put forward that the Howick club extend its boundaries to the Tamaki River. This motion was passed, and the clubs committee was extended to accommodate members from the Bucklands Beach Rugby Club and Pakuranga District. The Bucklands Beach Rugby Club however did not finalise their union with the club until about 10 years later. The decision to change the name to Pakuranga United came about to help reduce any mistrust, that the club was there to serve rugby and not a district, and also Pakuranga was where the club would move to with a larger population.
