Heartland Championship

The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mitre 10 Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the country's former domestic competition, the National Provincial Championship (NPC). The country's 27 provincial teams were split into two separate competitions. Thirteen of the original teams, plus one merged side created from two other teams, entered the new top-level professional competition, the Air New Zealand Cup (now known as the Mitre 10 Cup). The remaining 12 sides entered the new Heartland Championship, whose teams contest two distinct trophies, both named after legendary New Zealand players:

Heartland Championship
Competition logo
SportRugby union
Founded2006
No. of teams12
Country New Zealand
Most recent
champion(s)
Meads Cup:
North Otago
Lochore Cup:
South Canterbury
2019 Heartland Championship

The Competition

The Heartland Championship is held annually, and starts in August. Rugby teams from 12 provincial unions compete.

Points are earned during the competition based on the following schedule:

  • 4 points for a win
  • 2 points for a draw
  • 0 points for a loss
  • 1 bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries, regardless of the final result
  • 1 bonus point for a loss by 7 points or less

Prior to 2011

Prior to the 2011 Competition, the tournament was conducted in three rounds.[1] This was similar to the structure of the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup, but that competition collapsed its first two phases into one effective in 2007. At the start of Round One, the 12 teams would split into seeded pools of six teams each, Pool A and Pool B. Seedings were also based on positions in the previous year's competition. During Round One, each team would play the other teams in its pool once. All teams would have either two or three home fixtures, with the three highest seeds in each pool at the start of the season receiving the extra home fixture.

All teams would advance to Round Two. The top three teams in each pool advance to the Meads Cup, while the bottom three teams enter the Lochore Cup.

Round two saw each team in both the Meads and Lochore Cups playing the three teams that it did not play during Round One. The three teams with the most competition points in Round One would play two home fixtures and one away, while the other three teams would play one home fixture and two away.

All competition points from Round One carried over to Round Two, and the competition points earned in both rounds determined the teams that advanced to the semifinals of each Cup in Round Three. The top four teams in the Meads and Lochore Cup competitions at the end of Round Two advanced to the semifinals.

Round Robin

This round sees the 12 teams playing 8 games each. 1st to 4th on the ladder at the end of the 8 weeks will play off for the Meads Cup, while 5th to 8th play off for the Lochore Cup.

Finals

The Meads and Lochore Cup winners are both determined in four-team single-elimination tournaments. The semifinal matchups are seeded 1-4 and 2-3, with the higher seed receiving home field advantage. The highest surviving seed hosts each Cup final.

Heartland Championship teams

A map of current NZRU union boundaries, including teams competing in both the Mitre 10 Cup and Heartland Championship

The Heartland Championship is contested by the following teams:[1]

Team Super Rugby partner Hometown Home stadium Capacity[2]
Buller Crusaders Westport Victoria Square 5,000
East Coast Hurricanes Ruatoria Whakarua Park 3,000
Horowhenua-Kapiti Hurricanes Levin Levin Domain 6,500
King Country Chiefs Taupo Owen Delany Park 20,000
Mid Canterbury Crusaders Ashburton Ashburton Showgrounds 5,000
North Otago Highlanders Oamaru Whitestone Contracting Stadium 7,000
Poverty Bay Hurricanes Gisborne More FM Rugby Park 18,000
South Canterbury Crusaders Timaru Alpine Energy Stadium 12,000
Thames Valley Chiefs Paeroa Paeroa Domain 3,000
Wairarapa Bush Hurricanes Masterton Trust House Memorial Park 10,000
Wanganui Hurricanes Whanganui Cooks Gardens 15,000
West Coast Crusaders Greymouth John Sturgeon Park, Rugby Park 6,000

Prior to 2006, East Coast, North Otago, Poverty Bay and Wanganui competed in Division Two of the NPC, alongside Counties-Manukau, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, Nelson Bays and Marlborough (all promoted to the Air New Zealand Cup, Nelson Bays and Marlborough merging to form Tasman). The remaining teams competed in Division Three of the NPC.

Winners

Year Meads Cup Winner Lochore Cup Winner
2006 Wairarapa Bush Poverty Bay
2007 North Otago Poverty Bay
2008 Wanganui Poverty Bay
2009 Wanganui North Otago
2010 North Otago Wairarapa Bush
2011 Wanganui Poverty Bay
2012 East Coast Buller
2013 Mid Canterbury South Canterbury
2014 Mid Canterbury Wanganui
2015 Wanganui King Country
2016 Wanganui North Otago
2017 Wanganui Mid Canterbury
2018 Thames Valley Horowhenua-Kapiti
2019 North Otago South Canterbury

Meads Cup winners

Team Titles Runners-up Years
Wanganui
6
5
2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017
Mid Canterbury
2
2
2013, 2014
North Otago
3
1
2007, 2010, 2019
East Coast
1
1
2012
Thames Valley
1
2018
Wairarapa Bush
1
1
2006
Buller
2
South Canterbury
2
Horowhenua-Kapiti
1

Lochore Cup winners

Team Titles Runners-up Years
Poverty Bay
4
2006, 2007, 2008, 2011
North Otago
2
2
2009, 2016
South Canterbury
2
3
2013, 2019
Buller
1
3
2012
Horowhenua-Kapiti
1
1
2018
King Country
1
1
2015
Wanganui
1
2014
Wairarapa Bush
1
2010
Mid Canterbury
1
2017
West Coast
2

See also

References

  1. "Division One 2006: Competition Structure." AllBlacks.com, accessed 2006–08–20. PDF.
    Before the "Heartland Championship" name was adopted, this competition was tentatively called "Division One" of the NPC.
  2. "2013 Pink Batts Heartland Championship Media Guide". AllBlacks.com. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
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