Merivale Papanui Rugby Club: Merivale Rugby Club was formed on May 12th, 1882, at a meeting at the Carlton Hotel. Following many years of success, the Merivale club was relegated to second division in the 1950’s and struggled to get promoted for many seasons. On 12th July 1965, Merivale amalgamated with Papanui Rugby Club to become Merivale Papanui Rugby Club. Papanui had a senior team, but Merivale had the facilities and many junior teams. This placed the new club back into the senior division. Again, performances fell away and on 1st December 1995, Merivale amalgamated with Lincoln University Rugby Club to become Merivale Lincoln University (Merlins). Lincoln University had also been struggling with player numbers and results. This amalgamation did not seem to work as Merivale Papanui now only has a junior section and Lincoln is known as Lincoln University Sports.