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Heartland Championship
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Heartland Championship
The Heartland Championship is an annual round-robin rugby union competition in men's domestic New Zealand rugby. First played in 2006, it is the third highest level of competition in New Zealand alongside the Ranfurly Shield. It is organised by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and since 2021, it has been known as the Bunnings Heartland Championship after Bunnings, its naming rights sponsor.
Following the 2005 National Provincial Championship the NPC was restructured into two competitions. The Heartland Championship would include semi-professional and amateur players, and consist of the bottom twelve populated and performing regional teams. The higher ranked teams would compete in the reformed professional National Provincial Championship.
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:
Prior to the 2011 Competition, the tournament was conducted in three rounds. 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.
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Heartland Championship
The Heartland Championship is an annual round-robin rugby union competition in men's domestic New Zealand rugby. First played in 2006, it is the third highest level of competition in New Zealand alongside the Ranfurly Shield. It is organised by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and since 2021, it has been known as the Bunnings Heartland Championship after Bunnings, its naming rights sponsor.
Following the 2005 National Provincial Championship the NPC was restructured into two competitions. The Heartland Championship would include semi-professional and amateur players, and consist of the bottom twelve populated and performing regional teams. The higher ranked teams would compete in the reformed professional National Provincial Championship.
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:
Prior to the 2011 Competition, the tournament was conducted in three rounds. 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.