Mitre 10 Cup

For the history of New Zealand provincial competition before 2006, see National Provincial Championship.
Mitre 10 Cup
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2016 Mitre 10 Cup

The official Mitre 10 Cup logo
Formerly Air New Zealand Cup (2006–2009)
ITM Cup (2010–2015)
Sport Rugby union
Founded 2006 (2006)
Inaugural season 2006
Owner(s) New Zealand Rugby Union
CEO Steve Tew
Divisions Premiership
Championship
No. of teams 14
Country New Zealand
Most recent
champion(s)		 Canterbury (8th title)
Most titles Canterbury (8 titles)
TV partner(s) Sky Sport
Fox Sports
Sky Sports
Sponsor(s) Mitre 10
Related
competitions		 Heartland Championship
Lochore Cup
Meads Cup
Ranfurly Shield
Women's Provincial Championship
Official website Mitre10Cup.co.nz

The Mitre 10 Cup (colloquially referred to as "National Provincial Championship" or "NPC") is the highest level of New Zealand domestic rugby union competition, contested annually from late August to early November and managed by the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU). Building off competitions dating back to the National Provincial Championship in 1976, with teams from a number of provinces, the Mitre 10 Cup officially started with the 2006 season with 14 teams after the National Provincial Championship (NPC) was split into this professional competition and the amateur Heartland Championship competition. The competition was known as the Air New Zealand Cup to the end of the 2009 season; the name then changed to the ITM Cup for the 2010 season after ITM, the trading name of Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative Ltd., a New Zealand building supplies retailer took over as lead sponsor.[1] In 2016 the New Zealand-owned home improvement and garden retailer, Mitre 10 took over sponsorship after out-bidding ITM.[2]

Format and sponsorship

Format

The Mitre 10 Cup competition has changed a number of times. There have been up to three Divisions, with promotion/relegation between the two bottom divisions. Since 2006 there have been semi-finals and a final in each Division. Winners receive four competition points; if the game was a draw two points are awarded to each team. The Rugby union bonus points system is also used, where any team scoring four or more tries or losing by less than seven points receives an extra competition point. The top four teams at the end of the round-robin phase then played semifinals – the first placed team hosting the fourth team, and the second team hosting the third team. The two winners played the final at the home ground of the top surviving seed.

From 2013 onwards, the Mitre 10 Cup has two Divisions, the Premiership and the Championship, each with seven teams. All teams play all other teams in their own Division and four teams from the other Division. This keeps up some of the traditional provincial rivalries.

Naming rights

Mitre 10 has naming rights starting with the 2016 season, and the competition is the Mitre 10 Cup. During the Air New Zealand Cup era, airline and flag carrier of New Zealand Air New Zealand had naming rights and the competition was referred to as the Air New Zealand Cup.

In November 2015, provincial rugby sponsor ITM has been red-carded for the 2016 series. The building supplies company began its involvement in 2006, backing the national provincial series and the Heartland Championship. That sponsorship rose to competition-naming rights in 2010 when the company stepped up as major sponsor after the previous group withdrew. The ITM Cup, as it became known, started its six-season schedule. That deal ended for the 2016 season but the company wanted to renew its sponsorship. ITM put in a bid but had been told by the New Zealand Rugby Union that it had not been successful. ITM did not get a chance to match the investment from the new sponsor and had not been given any reason why it was overlooked for the twin provincial series for the next year.[3]

New Zealand-owned home improvement and garden retailer, Mitre 10 took over sponsorship in 2016 after they were announced the new title sponsor for the national domestic championship. With the inclusion of the Women’s Provincial Championship and support of the Jock Hobbs Memorial National Under 19 tournament, Mitre 10 became the first sponsor of all major fifteens domestic rugby competitions in New Zealand.[4]

Logo used from 2006 through 2009.
Logo used from 2010 through 2015.
Logo used from 2016 onwards.

History

National Provincial Championship Champions
1976–2005
Season Champions
1976 Bay of Plenty
1977 Canterbury
1978 Wellington
1979 Counties Manukau
1980 Manawatu
1981 Wellington
1982 Auckland
1983 Canterbury
1984 Auckland
1985 Auckland
1986 Wellington
1987 Auckland
1988 Auckland
1989 Auckland
1990 Auckland
1991 Otago
1992 Waikato
1993 Auckland
1994 Auckland
1995 Auckland
1996 Auckland
1997 Canterbury
1998 Otago
1999 Auckland
2000 Wellington
2001 Canterbury
2002 Auckland
2003 Auckland
2004 Canterbury
2005 Auckland

The 2006 reorganisation of New Zealand provincial rugby replaced the NPC's former three-division setup with two competitions. This differs from the original two-division setup used in the NPC from its creation in 1976 to 1984 in two key ways. The two current competitions are nationwide, while the original NPC Division two was split on a North Island/South Island basis; and the NZRU ruled that there would initially be no promotion or relegation between the Air New Zealand Cup and Heartland Championship, a feature that had always been present in the former NPC. The number of teams was reduced to 26, as the Marlborough and Nelson Bays unions merged to form the new Tasman union.

The 2006 expansion of the Super 12 and Tri Nations Series had a major effect on the Air New Zealand Cup. This expansion created the Super 14, adding two extra fixtures to that competition, and also added two more Tri-Nations matches for the All Blacks in non-World Cup years. Because of these changes, it was intended for players in the All Blacks selection pool to make only limited appearances in the Air New Zealand Cup.

National Provincial Championship

Before 2006, a number of competitions involving regional and provincial rugby union teams had taken shape in New Zealand. The earliest of these was the National Provincial Championship, which was launched in 1976 and continued until 2006.

The competition was launched as the National Provincial Championship in 1976. The competition, was the major domestic rugby competition in New Zealand. The National Provincial Championship saw many alterations to its format and brand. It was first contested in 1976, and although the basic format of Division One was much the same from then until the 2006 reorganisation, there were a number of changes to the lower divisions. The only change before 2006 was in 1998, when the number of teams in each division was changed to ten in Division One, nine in Division Two, and eight in Division Three. Having an even number of teams in Division One removed the necessity for byes. Starting that year, automatic promotion/relegation between the top two divisions was ended. In its place, the winner of Division Two played a promotion-relegation match against the bottom club in Division One to determine whether the clubs would switch places. Through 2002, this match was hosted by the bottom team in Division One, but the site was changed in 2003 to the home field of the Division Two champion. Auckland were the most successful team in the championship, having won 15 of the 30 series.

Air New Zealand Cup

The inaugural 2006 season was played by 14 teams over 13 weeks from 28 July until the grand final on the 21 October. The inaugural format saw the season split into two rounds. In round one teams split into two pools and played everybody in their pool as well as a bye week. In round two the top three teams from each pool went into the top six, which faced every team they did not play in round one Every other team was split into either Repechage A and Repechage B, and the winners of each repechage filled the two remaining spots for the quarterfinals with the top six. The quarterfinals were followed by semifinals and a grand final. The new competition saw the introduction of four teams elevated from Division two of the 2005 NPC; Counties Manukau, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Tasman (the amalgamation of the Nelson Bays and Marlborough unions). The competition was won by Waikato 37–31, after they beat Wellington in the Grand final in front of a capacity crowd of 25,000 fans at Waikato Stadium. The leading try-scorer was emerging star Richard Kahui from Waikato with eight tries, and the leading point-scorer was Jimmy Gopperth from Wellington with 121 points.

The 2007 season saw the NZRU dumping the pool system. The new format opened with a 10-week round-robin where each team missed out on playing three of the other teams. The finals format was not changed from 2006, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and a grand final. The champion was Auckland, defeating Wellington in Wellington's second successive grand final. Auckland finished the season at the top of the points table with a record 48 competition points, winning all ten matches. Jimmy Gopperth again finished as leading points scorer with a record 155, while Brent Ward from Auckland was the top try scorer with eight tries.

The 2008 champion was Canterbury, handing Wellington its third consecutive grand final defeat in a low-scoring 7-6 game. Blair Stewart from Southland was the leading points-scorer, with 105 points, while Wellington's Hosea Gear was top try scorer with a record 14 tries. In August, the New Zealand Rugby Union announced that the Tasman and Northland teams would be relegated to lower competition after the completion of the season for failure to meet criteria which included financial stability, population, training, development, playing history, and administration. This decision was reversed in September, with Tasman and Northland remaining in the competition for two more years [5]

2009 saw more changes in the format. The season, which ran from 30 July to 25 October, was changed to a straight round-robin tournament where every team faced the others once over 13 weeks. Quarter-finals were dropped, with the top four regular season teams advancing directly to the semi-finals and the winners from each semi moving to the grand final. Regular season points were earned as per the Rugby Union Bonus Points System; 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 1 point for scoring 4 tries or for losing by 7 points or less. Semi-finals were played between four teams, the teams are seeded first to fourth and the two highest seeded teams play at home against the two lowest seeded teams meaning first plays fourth and second plays third. The highest seed still remaining in the grand final played at home.

ITM Cup

The 2010 ITM Cup was the 34th provincial rugby union competition, the fifth since the competition reconstruction in 2006 and the first under the new sponsor of ITM, involving the top 14 provincial unions. It ran for 15 weeks, with 13 used for a round robin and 2 for the finals, from 29 July to 5 November.

Changes in 2011 see the 14 teams split into two divisions, with the top seven playing in the Premiership, the rest in the Championship. The two divisions play each other, though their ten-game round-robin season sees each team playing only four games per year against teams in the 'other' division. Other key principles introduced was that the competitions must include Super Rugby players, have a stand-alone window, feature a full round-robin and playoffs, have promotion/relegation, guarantee four and five home games per team, be completed within a 10–12 week window and conclude by the end of October.

Current teams

Note: In the table below, previews all the following unions details. The Mitre 10 Cup consists of fourteen provincial unions. Each team is under the governance of a union, they are the unions top male representative team that the union has to offer. The teams have not changed since the 2006 launch of the competition.

Colour/sClubEstablishedNickname/sStadium/sCapacityWebsite
 Auckland 1883 Gulls Eden Park 50,000 Official site
 Bay of Plenty 1911 Steamers Baypark Stadium & Rotorua International Stadium 19,800 & 26,000 Official site
 Canterbury 1879 Lambs AMI Stadium 18,000 Official site
 Counties Manukau 1955 Steelers ECOLight Stadium 12,000 Official site
 Hawke's Bay 1884 Magpies McLean Park 22,500 Official site
 Manawatu 1886 Turbos FMG Stadium 15,000 Official site
 North Harbour 1985 – QBE Stadium 25,000 Official site
 Northland 1920 Taniwhas Toll Stadium 18,500 Official site
 Otago 1881 Razorbacks Forsyth Barr Stadium 30,700 Official site
 Southland 1887 Stags Rugby Park Stadium 18,100 Official site
 Taranaki 1885 Bulls Yarrow Stadium 25,500 Official site
 Tasman 2006 Makos Lansdowne Park & Trafalgar Park 15,000 & 18,000 Official site
 Waikato 1921 Mooloos Waikato Stadium 25,800 Official site
 Wellington 1879 Lions Westpac Stadium 34,500 Official site

Champions

Season Cup Final Information League Leaders Attendance Sponsor Name
Winners Score Runners-up
2006 Waikato
37–31
 Wellington Waikato 25,000 Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Cup
2007 Auckland
23–14
 Wellington Auckland 16,000
2008 Canterbury
7–6
 Wellington Wellington 21,200
2009 Canterbury
28–20
 Wellington Canterbury 12,000
2010 Canterbury
33–13
 Waikato Canterbury 10,500 ITM ITM Cup
2011 Canterbury
12–3
 Waikato Waikato 14,000
2012 Canterbury
31–18
 Auckland Canterbury 12,000
2013 Canterbury
29–13
 Wellington Wellington 15,100
2014 Taranaki
36–32
 Tasman Taranaki 21,000
2015 Canterbury
25–23
 Auckland Canterbury 12,000
2016 Canterbury
43-27
 Tasman Canterbury Mitre 10 Mitre 10 Cup

Winners

Pos. Team Wins Winning Years
1 Canterbury 8 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
2 Waikato 1 2006
3 Auckland 1 2007
4 Taranaki 1 2014

Trophies

The Air New Zealand Cup was unveiled by New Zealand Rugby Union Deputy Chief Executive Steve Tew and Air New Zealand Chief Executive Rob Fyfe at the official launch of the Air New Zealand Cup competition in Auckland. The trophy stands 45 cm tall and weighs 3.9 kilograms. It was hand forged from 2.7 kilograms of sterling silver by master silversmith Thorkild Hansen. The inside of the cup is gilded with gold. Waihi stone carver Jeff Beckwith handcrafted the polished stone base from black basalt quarried from the Bombay Hills.[6]

Ranfurly Shield

Main article: Ranfurly Shield

The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is perhaps the most prestigious trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First presented to Auckland in 1902, the Shield is based on a challenge system, rather than a league or knockout competition as with most football trophies. The holding union must defend the Shield in challenge matches, and a successful challenger becomes the new holder of the Shield. The Shield holder at the end of each season is required to accept at least seven challenges for the following year. All home games during league play, but not during knockout playoffs, in the Mitre 10 Cup or Heartland Championship are automatic challenges. The remaining Shield defences must be made up of challenges from unions in the other domestic competition. For example, since North Harbour, an Air New Zealand Cup team, held the Shield at the end of the 2006 season despite losing their home quarter-final to Otago, they were forced to defend the Shield against Heartland Championship teams during the 2007 pre-season. Having successfully done so, all their home fixtures in the round-robin phase were Shield defences until they lost the shield to Waikato. The Shield is currently held by Canterbury, who won it from Waikato in the 2016 Mitre 10 Cup.[7]

Inter-union trophies

Date Team 1 Score Team 2 Trophy
1 October 2016 Hawke's Bay 30-21 Manawatu Kel Tremain Memorial Trophy
20 September 2014 Auckland 32–7 North Harbour Brian Purdy Battle of the Bridge Memorial Trophy
20 September 2014 Auckland 32–7 North Harbour The Newstalk 1ZB Trans Harbour Trophy
9 October 2016 Taranaki (47) 54–31 Wellington (119) John F Henning Trophy
18 August 2016 Counties Manukau (13) 17–20 North Harbour (16) The Lion Red Challenge Cup
25 September 2016 Auckland 44–38 Bay of Plenty John Drake Memorial Trophy
5 October 2016 Manawatu (18) 50–28 Wellington (50) Coronation Cup
5 September 2016 Waikato (40) 35–32 Auckland (95) Stan Thomas Trophy
24 September 2016 Canterbury (91) 45-34 Otago (63) Payne Trophy
12 September 2014 Canterbury 46–12 Wellington Harry Saundercock Trophy
20 August 2016 Bay of Plenty (16) 22–30 Taranaki (27) Peter Burke Trophy
21 August 2016 Otago (147) 40-17 Southland (82) Donald Stuart Memorial Shield
20 August 2016 Auckland (47) 3–43 Canterbury (47) Supporters' Club Cup
6 September 2014 Auckland 31–30 Wellington Fred Lucas Memorial Trophy
1 October 2016 Auckland (55) 54–17 Otago (21) Lindsay Colling Memorial Trophy
7 October 2016 Canterbury (19) 47-18 North Harbour (7) The Kevin Gimblett Memorial Trophy
18 September 2016 Taranaki (33) 20–20 Waikato (42) Ryan Wheeler Memorial Trophy
9 September 2016 Counties Manukau (0) 27–28 Wellington (1) Jonah Tali Lomu Memorial Trophy

Bold indicates current holders.
(–) indicates wins between the two provinces.

Player of the Year

Year Player Team
2006 Richard Kahui Waikato
2007 Isa Nacewa Auckland
2008 Jamie Mackintosh Southland
2009 Mike Delany Bay of Plenty
2010 Robbie Fruean Canterbury
2011 Aaron Cruden Manawatu
2012 Robbie Fruean Canterbury
2013 Andrew Ellis Canterbury
2014 Seta Tamanivalu Taranaki
2015 George Moala Auckland

Rules

Salary Cap

In 2015 the minimum value of any contract is $18,000, and that has to be paid regardless of whether the individual plays a single game, that payment will count towards the salary cap. Any union can't spend any more than $1.025 million on salaries. The maximum value of any individual contract can't exceed $55,000 a season. Provincial unions are reimbursed by the NZRU $50,000 for every contracted All Black on their books who goes to the 2015 World Cup. If that All Black becomes available for any reason, the union has to pay back a pro-rata fee to the NZRU to gain access to the player. All Blacks unavailable due to test commitments don't count towards the salary cap.[8]

Club competitions

Each respective province competing in the Mitre 10 Cup has a number of their own club leagues, which feed into Mitre 10 Cup teams. In New Zealand, the Mitre 10 Cup is the most prominent domestic competition below the Super Rugby, in which all the respective Unions are also aligned with Super Rugby sides.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "ITM Cup the new prize of national provincial rugby" (Press release). New Zealand Rugby Union. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  2. ↑ "NZ to trial law changes in domestic competitions" (Press release). New Zealand Times. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "No more ITM Cup as sponsor red-carded" (Press release). New Zealand Herald. 26 November 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Mitre 10 Named Competition Sponsor" (Press release). Manawatu Turbos. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Northland and Tasman saved from axe". Stuff.co.nz. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  6. ↑ "Stunning New Air New Zealand Cup Unveiled". 14 July 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "Canterbury edge Waikato in Ranfurly Shield thriller". Mitre10 Cup. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "Rugby: ITM Cup snub for Pacific players" (Press release). New Zealand Hearld. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
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