The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup season was the eleventh season of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's provincial

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 18, when

North Harbour North Harbour or North Harbor may refer to: Canada * North Harbour, St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community on St. Mary's Bay * North Harbour, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community on Placentia Bay * North Harbour, ...

hosted Counties Manukau. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the

Mitre 10 Mitre 10 is an Australian retail and trade hardware store chain. Operations are based on a cooperative system, where the store owners are members of the National group. The chain name references the mitre joint. There are over 400 "Mitre 10" ...

Cup and it was the first season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship, North Harbour was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team,

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

was relegated to the Championship.

Format

The

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

standings were sorted by a competition points system. Four points were awarded to the winning team, a draw equaled two points, whilst a loss amounted to zero points. Unions could also win their side a respectable bonus point. To receive a bonus point, they must have scored four tries or more or lose by seven or fewer points or less. Each team was placed on their total points received. If necessary of a

tiebreaker In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

, when two or more teams finish on equal points, the union who defeated the other in a head-to-head got placed higher. In case of a draw between them, the side with the biggest points differential margin got rights to be ranked above. If they were tied on points difference, it was then decided by a highest scored try count or a

coin toss A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a ...

. This seeding format was implemented since the beginning of the 2006 competition. The competition included a promotion-relegation process with the winner of the Championship receiving automatic promotion to the Premiership, replacing the seventh-placed team in the Premiership which was relegated to the Championship for the following year. The regular season consisted of two types of matches. The internal division matches were when each team played the other six unions in their division once, home or away. The cross-division matches were when each team played four teams from the other division, thus missing out on three teams, each from the opposite division. Each union played home or away games against teams from the other division, making a total of ten competition games for each union. The finals format allowed the top four teams from each division move on to the semi-finals. The top two division winners, based on table points, received a home semi-final. In the first round of the finals, the semi-finals, the second division winner hosted the third division winner, and the first division winner hosted the fourth division winner. The final was hosted by the top remaining seed.

Standings

Source: Mitre 10 Cup standings 2016

Standings progression

Regular season

The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup played across nine weeks with every team playing one Wednesday night fixture in a double-up round where they played twice that week. The competition started on Thursday, August 18, with

taking on Counties Manukau at

QBE Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are a ...

hosted

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and Auckalnd versed

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, in two repeat matchups of last year's finalists.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Play-offs

Championship Premiership

Semi-finals

Championship

Premiership

Finals

Championship

Premiership

Statistics

Leading point scorers

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published o
provincial.rugby
(see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Leading try scorers

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published o
provincial.rugby
(see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Points by week

Source: Mitre 10 Cup Fixtures and Results 2016

Tries by week

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published o
provincial.rugby
(see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Sanctions

Ranfurly Shield

Pre-season challenges

After winning the

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challenge ...

off

in their final game of

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Waikato confirmed their pre-season defences against

Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an area in South East England that extends along the River Thames west of London towards Oxford. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub on the M4 corridor, with a high concentration of technology companies ...

King Country The King Country ( Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from Kawhia Harbour and the town of Ōtorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of th ...

and

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

. The Thames Valley and King Country unions would take on

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

for the fifth time, while Wanganui gained a mandatory shield challenge as the current holders of the

Meads Cup The Meads Cup is a rugby union trophy named after King Country Rugby Football Union, King Country and All Blacks player Colin Meads. It is contested during the Heartland Championship. It was first awarded in 2006 Heartland Championship, 2006, when ...

. The first challenge for 2016 was against Thames Valley at the

Paeroa Paeroa is a town in the Hauraki District of the Waikato Region in the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula, it is close to the junction of the Waihou River and Ohinemuri River, and is approximately 20 kil ...

Domain. King Country's challenge was played at Bedford Park in

Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which take ...

with Wanganui being the last pre-season challenge. Waikato had little trouble getting a victory in their first shield defense of the season, winning 83–13 in

. They ran in thirteen tries in front of a 2,500 capacity crowd. Winger Iliesa Ratuva scored a hat-trick on debut for his province, while number 8

Whetu Douglas Whetukamokamo H. Douglas (born 18 April 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for Canterbury in New Zealand's provincial rugby competition the Mitre 10 Cup. Senior career Douglas debuted for Waikat ...

and prop Atunaisa Moli both got a brace. Thames Valley managed two second-half tries, the first after Waikato had reached fifty points to veteran Brett Ranga. Their second came when

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Jone Koroinsagana scored an intercept. The match also featured a return for former

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

half-back

Isaac Boss Isaac Boss (born 9 April 1980, in Tokoroa, New Zealand) is a New Zealand–born Irish rugby union former player. His grandmother was born in Glenarm, County Antrim, thereby qualifying him to play for Ireland. He played scrum-half or ful ...

, who first played for the province in 1999 before heading to

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

in 2005. In their second defense, Waikato got past

55–0 in

. First scoring was lock Brian Alainu'uese, getting over after a series of pick and goes. Jordan Trainor then soon after added a penalty.

Flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

Murray Iti scored his side's fifth, but there was no further scoring action until the 74th minute, when

Sevu Reece Sevuloni Lasei Reece (born 13 February 1997) is a Fijian born New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a wing for the Crusaders in Super Rugby and Southland in the Bunnings NPC. Born in Fiji, he represents New Zealand at international level a ...

, on as a substitute, crossed over in the far left corner. Matthew Lansdown, another substitute, then added Waikato's seventh with two minutes to play, and he was followed in the final minute by

Tevita Taufuʻi Tevita Taufui (born 21 March 1988) is a Tongan rugby union player who played as a centre for and in New Zealand's national provincial competitions and for the Tonga national rugby union team. Senior career After debuting for the Manawatu Tur ...

, who got their eighth.

References

External links

* {{NPC National Provincial Championship seasons

Format

Standings

Standings progression

Regular season

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Championship

Premiership

Finals

Championship

Premiership

Statistics

Leading point scorers

Leading try scorers

Points by week

Tries by week

Sanctions

Ranfurly Shield

Pre-season challenges

See also

References

External links