New Zealand National Provincial Championship

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Poster
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Established
2006 (19 years old)

First Recorded Event
2021-08-06

Current Season
2025

Current Round
200

Sport
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Rugby

Location
New Zealand

Gender
Male

TV Rights

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Upcoming
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Results
25 Oct	Canterbur	36 - 28	Otago
18 Oct	Canterbur	43 - 19	Hawkes Ba
17 Oct	Otago	41 - 17	Bay of Pl
12 Oct	Canterbur	23 - 15	Counties
11 Oct	Hawkes Ba	26 - 12	Taranaki
11 Oct	Bay of Pl	27 - 7	Tasman
10 Oct	Otago	44 - 41	Waikato
05 Oct	Canterbur	34 - 14	Taranaki
05 Oct	Tasman	41 - 49	Counties
04 Oct	Manawatu	10 - 38	Hawkes Ba

Description

The National Provincial Championship (NPC) is an annual, men's round-robin rugby union competition organised by New Zealand Rugby. First played in 1976, it is the second highest level of professional rugby in New Zealand. The Ranfurly Shield is also played for during the season. In 2021, Bunnings became the naming rights sponsor and the competition has been known as the Bunnings NPC since. A concurrent women's tournament is also held, called the Farah Palmer Cup.

Following the 2005 season the league was restructured into a two-tier competition. The National Provincial Championship would include professional and semi-professional players, and consist of the top fourteen financial and sporting best performing regional teams. For sponsorship reasons it was rebranded as the Air New Zealand Cup. The remaining teams would form an amateur competition known as the Heartland Championship.

Twenty-nine teams have competed since the inception of the competition in 1976. Auckland are historically the most successful union with seventeen titles and Canterbury is the most successful team during the professional-era, having won nine from eleven finals. Eight other teams have won titles from both periods: Wellington (6), Waikato (3), Otago (2), Taranaki (2), Tasman (2), Bay of Plenty (1), Counties Manukau (1) and Manawatu (1).

Seasons