The Heartland Championship, known for sponsorship reasons as the AA Rewards Heartland Championship,^[1] is an amateur 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. The remaining 12 sides entered the new Heartland Championship, whose teams contest two distinct trophies, both named after legendary players for the country's national team, the All Blacks: To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... General phase play in rugby union. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Air New Zealand Cup (also referred to by its previous name of the National Provincial Championship, its abbreviation of NPC, or for sponsorship reasons as the Air New Zealand NPC) is New Zealands professional domestic rugby union competition. ... First international Australia 3 - 22 New Zealand (15 August 1903) Largest win New Zealand 145 - 17 Japan (4 June 1995) Worst defeat Australia 28 - 7 New Zealand (28 August 1999) World Cup Appearances 5 (First in 1987) Best result Champions, 1987 The international rugby union team of New Zealand are...

• The Meads Cup, the more prestigious trophy, named after Colin Meads.
• The Lochore Cup, named after Brian Lochore.

New Zealand also has five teams in Super 14, an elite competition which also involves sides from Australia and South Africa. Colin Earl Meads (born June 3, 1936 in Cambridge, New Zealand) nicknamed Pinetree, is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer who played 133 times (55 of these were test matches) as an All Black from 1957 until 1971. ... hi ... The current Super 14 logo The Super 14 is a rugby union championship competed for by teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. ...

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 (a converted try) or less

Like the Air New Zealand Cup, it is conducted in three rounds.^[2]

Round One

At the start of Round One, the 12 teams are split into seeded pools of six teams each, Pool A and Pool B. Seedings are also based on positions in the previous year's competition. During Round One, each team will play the other teams in its pool once. All teams will 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 will 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

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

All competition points from Round One carry over to Round Two, and the competition points earned in both rounds will determine the teams that advance 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 advance to the semifinals.

Round Three

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

The Heartland Championship is contested by the following teams:^[2]

• Buller
• East Coast
• Horowhenua-Kapiti
• King Country
• Mid Canterbury
• North Otago
• Poverty Bay
• South Canterbury
• Thames Valley
• Wairarapa Bush
• West Coast
• Wanganui

Prior to 2006, East Coast, North Otago, Poverty Bay and Wanganui competed in Division Two of the NPC. The remaining teams competed in Division Three of the NPC. The East Coast Rugby Football Union is a constituent union in the New Zealand Rugby Union. ... The Wanganui Rugby Football Union was formed in 1888. ...

Winners

For past winners of lower divisions of the NPC, see Air New Zealand Cup. The 2006 Heartland Championship competition is a rugby union competition in New Zealand. ... The Air New Zealand Cup (also referred to by its previous name of the National Provincial Championship, its abbreviation of NPC, or for sponsorship reasons as the Air New Zealand NPC) is New Zealands professional domestic rugby union competition. ...

See also

• 2006 Heartland Championship
• List of sports attendance figures

The 2006 Heartland Championship competition is a rugby union competition in New Zealand. ... // This article lists the attendances at many sports competitions around the world. ... Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. ... The New Zealand Rugby Football Union is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. ... First international Australia 3 - 22 New Zealand (15 August 1903) Largest win New Zealand 145 - 17 Japan (4 June 1995) Worst defeat Australia 28 - 7 New Zealand (28 August 1999) World Cup Appearances 5 (First in 1987) Best result Champions, 1987 The international rugby union team of New Zealand are... The Junior All Blacks is a New Zealand rugby team. ... First international Ireland 4 - 13 New Zealand Māori (as the New Zealand Natives) (1888-12-01) Largest win United States 6 - 74 New Zealand Māori (2006-06-07) Worst defeat New Zealand Māori 6 - 31 Australia (1936-09-23) World Cup Appearances 0 (ineligible) New Zealand M... The Black Ferns is New Zealands national womens rugby team. ... The Rugby World Cup trophy, the William Webb Ellis Trophy. ... The Tri Nations Series is an annual international Rugby Union series held between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. ... The current Super 14 logo The Super 14 is a rugby union championship competed for by teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. ... The IRB Pacific 5 Nations is a new international rugby union competition held between five Pacific rim sides; Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the Junior All Blacks (New Zealands second XV). ... The Bledisloe Cup Rugby Unions Bledisloe Cup is contested between Australias Wallabies and New Zealands All Blacks. ... The Churchill Cup is an annual rugby union tournament contested by representative mens and womens teams from Canada, England, and the United States, with a fourth invited team. ... The Blues, formerly the Auckland Blues, are a New Zealand rugby union team based in Auckland, New Zealand, and representing the Northland, North Harbour and Auckland unions. ... The Chiefs (formerly known as Waikato Chiefs), are a New Zealand rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand, and representing the Counties Manukau, Waikato, Thames Valley, King Country and Bay of Plenty unions; up until 1999 North Harbour which was swapped with the Blues for Counties Manukau. ... This article is about historical Crusades . ... The Highlanders (formerly known as Otago Highlanders), are a rugby union team from New Zealand. ... The Hurricanes (formerly known as the Wellington Hurricanes) are a New Zealand rugby union team based in Wellington and representing the East Coast, Poverty Bay, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu, Wairarapa-Bush, Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wellington unions. ... The Air New Zealand Cup (also referred to by its previous name of the National Provincial Championship, its abbreviation of NPC, or for sponsorship reasons as the Air New Zealand NPC) is New Zealands professional domestic rugby union competition. ... The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log of Wood, is perhaps the most prestigious trophy in New Zealands domestic rugby union competition. ... The Auckland Rugby Football Union is the governing body of rugby union in the Auckland isthmus territorial authority in the North Island in New Zealand. ... The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union is the official governing body of rugby union in the region of Bay of Plenty on the North Island of New Zealand. ... The Canterbury Rugby Football Union is the official governing body for rugby union in a substantial part of the Canterbury region of New Zealand. ... The Counties-Manukau Rugby Football Union (CMRFU) is a Rugby Football Union, mainly based in the Franklin district of New Zealand. ... The Hawkes Bay Rugby Union (HBRU) is a governing body of rugby union in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand. ... Manawatu Rugby Union (MRU) is the governing body of Rugby in the Manawatu rugby province. ... The North Harbour Rugby Union was formed in 1985 and during this time has developed a reputation for playing quality rugby football. ... The Northland Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in the Northland region of New Zealand. ... ... The Southland Rugby club plays as a province in Division One of the New Zealand National Provincial Championship (NPC). ... Taranaki Rugby Football Union (TRFU) is the governing body of Rugby in the New Zealand province of Taranaki. ... The Tasman Rugby Union will become New Zealands newest provincial union when the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup starts in July. ... The Waikato Rugby Union is the official governing body of rugby union in the region of Waikato on the North Island of New Zealand. ... The East Coast Rugby Football Union is a constituent union in the New Zealand Rugby Union. ... The Wanganui Rugby Football Union was formed in 1888. ...

References

1. ^ "AA Rewards supports Heartland Championship." AllBlacks.com, 17 August 2006.
2. ^ ^a b "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.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

External links

• Official Heartland Championship website