For the game against New Zealand Gerard Stokes took over as coach after Kemble was appointed as one of the Kiwis assistant coaches. Newcomers to the Residents squad for the match included Willie McLean, Dean Clark, Phil Bergman, Patrick Kiely, Aaron Tucker, Heston Patea and Mark Woods.
The New Zealand Women's Rugby League Federation was registered in February 1995 and the first tour of Australia commenced in June. The Team played seven matches, winning all of them including defeating Australia 18-14 and 14–6.
The Waikato Cougars were again coached by Joe Gwynne and again finished fourth. The team also played France, losing 2-24. The squad included Tukere Barlow, Darryl Beazley, Tama Hohaia, Butch Tua, captain Aaron Tucker, Tony Waikato and former Kiwi Mark Woods.[11]
The Bay of Plenty Stags again finished bottom of the table. Coach Neil Joyce resigned halfway through the season and he was replaced by former Kiwi coach Tony Gordon and Lawrence Brydon.
The Taranaki Rockets concentrated on local talent, a tactic which did not play off as the team finished a disappointing 11th. Coach Allan Marshall retired at the end of the season. The squad included Blair Nickson and Willie Talau.
the Hawkes Bay Unicorns were coached by Gary Kemble, who also coached the New Zealand Residents and was a New Zealand Kiwis assistant coach. The squad included Richard Broughton, Nathan Picchi and captain Alan Mason.
The Wellington City Dukes were coached by Ken Laban and based largely around his 1994 champion Marist Northern club side.[13] The team included Earl Va'a, who won the Best and Fairest award, and captain George Fa'alogo.
The Christchurch City Shiners were coached by Lex Clarke and included former Kiwi Blair Harding, Shane Endacott and Paul Bergman. The team was greatly improved from the 1994 season and only just missed out on the finals.[14]
After trailing 15–2 at halftime the North Harbour Sea Eagles came from behind to defeat the Warrior Colts 28–21 in the second Lion Red Cup Grand Final.[1] The match included an eight-point try scored by Paki Tuimavave in the 48th minute. Tuimavave was tackled high by Aaron Lester while he was grounding the ball. Lester was then sin-binned for back chatting the referee after the incident.
The NPC was conducted on an invitational basis, with all districts being invited to participate. Because Wellington and Canterbury also had teams in the Lion Red Cup, these sides were selected from only playing in their local club competitions.[16]
Northern Division
This was the first time Coastline had competed as an independent district and they recorded their first ever win when they defeated Gisborne-East Coast 41–32. Gisborne-East Coast also defeated Northland for the first time ever.[16]
The Auckland Warriors competed in the Australian Rugby League competition for the first time. The team finished tenth, missing the finals by only two points. The Reserve Grade team made the finals but lost in the quarterfinals.
The Manurewa Marlins defeated the Waitemata Seagulls to win the Sharman Cup second division. As a result, they were promoted to the Fox Memorial for 1996.[19] Otahuhu won the Stormont Shield.
The Halswell Hornets won the Canterbury Rugby League's Pat Smith Challenge Trophy grand final 20–19 over Linwood. Halswell were coached by Phil Prescott and included Glen Coughlan.[22] The two teams had earlier shared the minor premiership.
The West Coast Waro-rakau Hornets won the Thacker Shield by defeating Canterbury's Haswell Hornets 48–16.[23]
Northland
The Moerewa Tigers won the Bay of Islands competition, by defeating the Kaikohe Lions 16–12.[24]
The West End Jumbos won the Whangarei City & Districts title, by defeating the Otaika Eagles 30–24 at Jubilee Park, Whangārei.[24]
The East Coast Rebels won the Far North Districts title by defeating the Te Paatu United Warriors 32–28.[24]
The Waitara Bears won the Taranaki Rugby League competition 16–14 over the defending champions, the Western Suburbs Tigers.[27] The Bears featured Blair Nickson while the Tigers included Willie Talau. Kia Ora, coached by Peter Sixtus, defeated Otaki 14–4 in the Manawatu Rugby League grand final.[28]
Taradale Eagles defeated the Omahu Huia 51–10 in the Hawke's Bay Rugby League grand final while the Kaiti Knights won the Gisborne-East Coast grand final, defeating Uawa 34–26.[29]
The Motueka Tigers won the Nelson-Marlborough grand final, defeating the Blenheim Knights 42–24.[30] Cobden-Kohinoor won the West Coast Rugby League grand final, defeating minor premiers Waro-rakau 12–10.[23] The Waitati Warriors won the Otago grand final 14–10 over the South Pacific Raiders while Bluff defeated He Tauaa 20–14 in the Southland championship match.