New Zealand National Provincial Championship

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Poster
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Established
2006 (20 years old)

First Recorded Event
2021-08-06

Current Season
2026

Current Round

Sport
Sport Icon

Rugby

Location
New Zealand

Gender
Male

TV Rights
New Zealand - TVNZ+
New Zealand - Sky Sport 1 NZ

Logo

		Upcoming
11 Oct 26	CanterbuCanterbury	12:35am	WaikatoWaikato

		Results
10 Oct 26	OtagoOtago	-	Hawkes BaHawkes Bay
10 Oct 26	North HarNorth Harbour	31 - 50	TaranakiTaranaki
09 Oct 26	NorthlandNorthland	26 - 21	TasmanTasman
04 Oct 26	Bay of PlBay of Plenty	38 - 21	North HarNorth Harbour
04 Oct 26	TaranakiTaranaki	68 - 26	WellingtoWellington
03 Oct 26	WaikatoWaikato	33 - 50	TasmanTasman
03 Oct 26	Counties Counties Manukau	12 - 7	Hawkes BaHawkes Bay
03 Oct 26	ManawatuManawatu	12 - 22	CanterburCanterbury
02 Oct 26	SouthlandSouthland	14 - 28	NorthlandNorthland
01 Oct 26	OtagoOtago	45 - 42	AucklandAuckland

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