2018 Mitre 10 Cup

The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season was the thirteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 16, when North Harbour hosted Northland. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the Mitre 10 Cup and it was the third season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship, Waikato was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team, Taranaki was relegated to the Championship.

Format The Mitre 10 Cup 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, 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 deferential 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. 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 2018

Premiership Division # Team 1 Auckland 10 9 0 1 343 209 +134 9 1 46 2 Tasman 10 9 0 1 319 195 +124 7 0 43 3 Canterbury 10 8 0 2 325 212 +113 8 1 41 4 Wellington 10 6 0 4 354 202 +152 7 3 34 5 North Harbour 10 6 0 4 317 297 +20 6 0 30 6 Counties Manukau 10 2 0 8 218 275 –57 3 6 17 7 Taranaki 10 2 0 8 203 335 –132 3 2 13

Championship Division # Team 1 Waikato 10 6 0 4 368 243 +125 7 3 34 2 RS – Otago 10 6 0 4 306 302 +4 4 1 29 3 Hawke's Bay 10 5 0 5 296 321 –25 7 1 28 4 Northland 10 4 0 6 276 306 –30 5 3 24 5 Bay of Plenty 10 4 0 6 253 292 –39 3 2 21 6 Manawatu 10 3 0 7 202 357 –155 2 0 14 7 Southland 10 0 0 10 168 402 –234 3 1 4

Standings progression Premiership Team W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 Auckland 4 (3rd) 9 (2nd) 14 (2nd) 19 (1st) 24 (1st) 29 (1st) 31 (3rd) 36 (3rd) 46 (1st) Canterbury 0 (6th) 5 (6th) 10 (4th) 15 (3rd) 22 (2nd) 27 (3rd) 32 (2nd) 37 (2nd) 41 (3rd) Counties Manukau 1 (5th) 2 (7th) 8 (7th) 13 (5th) 13 (6th) 14 (6th) 15 (6th) 16 (6th) 17 (6th) North Harbour 4 (4th) 9 (3rd) 9 (6th) 9 (7th) 14 (5th) 19 (5th) 24 (5th) 29 (5th) 30 (5th) Taranaki 0 (7th) 5 (5th) 10 (5th) 10 (6th) 10 (7th) 12 (7th) 13 (7th) 13 (7th) 13 (7th) Tasman 4 (2nd) 9 (1st) 14 (1st) 14 (4th) 19 (4th) 28 (2nd) 33 (1st) 38 (1st) 43 (2nd) Wellington 5 (1st) 6 (4th) 11 (3rd) 17 (2nd) 22 (3rd) 27 (4th) 28 (4th) 29 (4th) 34 (4th)Championship Team W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 Bay of Plenty 4 (3rd) 8 (2nd) 8 (2nd) 9 (4th) 9 (5th) 9 (5th) 10 (5th) 16 (5th) 21 (5th) Hawke's Bay 5 (1st) 10 (1st) 12 (1st) 17 (1st) 17 (2nd) 18 (2nd) 23 (2nd) 28 (2nd) 28 (3rd) Manawatu 5 (2nd) 5 (3rd) 5 (5th) 5 (6th) 5 (6th) 5 (6th) 9 (6th) 9 (6th) 14 (6th) Northland 1 (4th) 1 (5th) 5 (4th) 6 (5th) 11 (4th) 16 (3rd) 21 (3rd) 22 (4th) 24 (4th) Otago 0 (6th) 1 (6th) 6 (3rd) 10 (3rd) 15 (3rd) 15 (4th) 20 (4th) 25 (3rd) 29 (2nd) Southland 0 (7th) 1 (7th) 1 (7th) 2 (7th) 2 (7th) 2 (7th) 2 (7th) 3 (7th) 4 (7th) Waikato 1 (5th) 3 (4th) 3 (6th) 13 (2nd) 18 (1st) 23 (1st) 28 (1st) 33 (1st) 34 (1st) The table above shows a team's progression throughout the season.For each week, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall division log position in brackets. Key: Win Draw Loss Bye

Regular season The 2018 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 August 16, with North Harbour taking on Northland at QBE Stadium. The opening round saw a repeat of the Premiership final with Tasman against the then current champions Canterbury.

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

FB 15Jordan TrainorRW 14Melani NanaiOC 13Tumua Manu IC 12TJ Faiane (c)LW 11Salesi RayasiFH 10Harry PlummerSH 9 Jonathan Ruru N8 8 Akira Ioane OF 7 Adrian Choat BF 6 Evan OlmsteadRL 5 Michael Fatialofa LL 4 Fa'atiga LemaluTP 3 Marcel RenataHK 2 Robbie Abel LP 1 Sam Prattley Replacements:HK 16Mike Sosene-Feagai PR 17Jarred Adams PR 18Marco Fepulea'iLK 19Taleni Seu FL 20Hoskins Sotutu SH 21Leon Fukofuka FH 22Daniel KirkpatrickWG 23Caleb Clarke FB 15George BridgeRW 14Josh McKayOC 13Braydon EnnorIC 12Phil Burleigh LW 11Caleb Makene FH 10Brett CameronSH 9 Mitchell Drummond (c) N8 8 Luke WhitelockOF 7 Billy Harmon BF 6 Reed PrinsepRL 5 Mitchell DunsheaLL 4 Luke RomanoTP 3 Sef Fa'agase HK 2 Nathan Vella LP 1 Alex Hodgman Replacements:HK 16Brodie McAlister PR 17Harry Allan PR 18Chris King N8 19Tom SandersFL 20Tom ChristieSH 21Ere Enari CE 22Sam Beard WG 23Ngane Punivai

Statistics Leading point scorers No. Player Team Points Average Details 1 Fletcher Smith Waikato 130 10.83 2 , 54 , 4 , 0 2 Brett Cameron Canterbury 121 10.08 1 , 37 , 14 , 0 3 Josh Ioane Otago 116 9.67 4 , 30 , 12 , 0 4 Mitchell Hunt Tasman 116 10.55 4 , 27 , 14 , 0 5 Harry Plummer Auckland 113 9.42 1 , 42 , 8 , 0 6 Bryn Gatland North Harbour 109 10.90 2 , 27 , 15 , 0 7 Jack Debreczeni Northland 100 9.09 2 , 30 , 10 , 0 8 Beaudein Waaka Taranaki 93 9.30 4 , 20 , 11 , 0 9 Jackson Garden-Bachop Wellington 91 8.27 1 , 28 , 10 , 0 10 Sevu Reece Waikato 70 5.83 14 , 0 , 0 , 0 Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published on provincial.rugby (see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Leading try scorers No. Player Team Tries Average 1 Sevu Reece Waikato 14 1.17 2 Tevita Li North Harbour 10 1.00 3 Salesi Rayasi Auckland 9 0.75 4 Will Jordan Tasman 9 0.82 5 Samisoni Taukei'aho Waikato 9 0.82 6 Tumua Manu Auckland 7 0.58 7 Quinn Tupaea Waikato 7 0.58 8 Matt Faddes Otago 7 0.58 9 Akira Ioane Auckland 6 0.50 10 Braydon Ennor Canterbury 6 0.50 Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published on provincial.rugby (see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Points by week Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Average Auckland 23 19 28 12 35 17 36 10 34 29 31 30 26 31 29 24 101 37 343 209 34.30 20.90 Bay of Plenty30 1022 1719 3128 2920 3221 5415 1760 6738 35253 29225.30 29.20 Canterbury17 2527 2031 1934 2360 5547 2549 2441 719 14325 21232.50 21.20 Counties Manukau19 2317 2248 5143 2612 5319 2120 2426 3614 19218 27521.80 27.50 Hawke's Bay31 1031 2525 2929 2822 4234 5179 9045 170 29296 32129.60 32.10 Manawatu24 1921 4117 5023 3419 4926 7817 1517 4538 26202 35720.20 35.70 North Harbour21 2029 2820 3223 3553 5151 3455 2636 2629 45317 29731.70 29.70 Northland20 2112 2818 1723 2749 1926 1065 7528 7135 38276 30627.60 30.60 Otago16 3425 3150 1727 2343 2425 4731 2666 8123 19306 30230.60 30.20 Southland10 3124 457 5226 4324 4310 2611 4222 2634 94168 40216.80 40.20 Taranaki10 3041 2143 3719 3317 5330 3126 557 4110 34203 33520.30 33.50 Tasman25 1745 2432 2010 3653 1750 3828 2247 2129 0319 19531.10 19.50 Waikato19 2428 2917 3576 5042 2254 2142 1171 2819 23368 24336.80 24.30 Wellington34 1620 2752 766 6653 1249 722 2824 2934 10354 20235.40 20.20 Source: Mitre 10 Cup Fixtures and Results 2018

Tries by week Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Average Auckland 3 3 4 2 5 3 5 1 5 4 5 4 4 5 4 3 15 5 50 30 5.00 3.00 Bay of Plenty3 13 33 43 42 43 82 29 96 534 403.40 4.00 Canterbury2 34 34 35 28 87 37 36 13 246 284.60 2.80 Counties Manukau3 33 37 76 42 83 33 34 52 333 393.30 3.90 Hawke's Bay4 15 34 44 33 64 712 127 20 443 424.30 4.20 Manawatu4 33 53 72 53 74 132 22 75 428 532.80 5.30 North Harbour2 24 42 42 57 67 49 45 44 742 404.20 4.00 Northland2 22 42 22 37 34 18 124 115 636 443.60 4.40 Otago1 43 57 33 27 33 75 49 123 341 434.10 4.30 Southland1 44 71 84 63 71 41 63 45 1323 592.30 5.90 Taranaki1 35 35 53 52 74 54 91 61 526 482.60 4.80 Tasman3 27 44 21 57 27 64 37 34 044 274.40 2.70 Waikato3 44 43 511 86 38 36 111 43 355 355.50 3.50 Wellington4 13 48 110 88 29 13 43 45 153 265.30 2.60 ForAgainst

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

Sanctions Player Team Red Yellow Sent off match(es) Jarrad Hoeata Taranaki 1 0 vs Canterbury Daniel Lienert-Brown Canterbury 1 0 vs Taranaki Sione Misiloi Otago 0 2 vs Bay of Plenty and Tasman Mitch Jacobson Waikato 0 2 vs Northland Tom Robinson Northland 0 1 vs North Harbour Blair Prinsep Tasman 0 1 vs Canterbury Michael Allardice Hawke's Bay 0 1 vs Southland Gareth Evans Hawke's Bay 0 1 vs Southland Josh Timu Otago 0 1 vs Hawke's Bay Chris Eves North Harbour 0 1 vs Tasman Malo Tuitama Wellington 0 1 vs Waikato Tolu Fahamokioa Wellington 0 1 vs Waikato Jordan Manihera Waikato 0 1 vs Wellington Tevita Li North Harbour 0 1 vs Canterbury Connor Collins Canterbury 0 1 vs North Harbour Pasqualle Dunn Hawke's Bay 0 1 vs Waikato Sione Asi Manawatu 0 1 vs Northland Antonio Kiri Kiri Manawatu 0 1 vs Tasman Baden Wardlaw Bay of Plenty 0 1 vs Waikato Melani Nanai Auckland 0 1 vs Taranaki Kara Pryor Northland 0 1 vs Hawke's Bay Faalelei Sione Manawatu 0 1 vs Bay of Plenty Michael Collins Otago 0 1 vs Auckland Sio Tomkinson Otago 0 1 vs Bay of Plenty Mateaki Kafatolu Wellington 0 1 vs Auckland Hamish Northcott Manawatu 0 1 vs Hawke's Bay Sikeli Nabou Counties Manukau 0 1 vs North Harbour Hugh Renton Canterbury 0 1 vs Taranaki Ben Fotheringham Southland 0 1 vs Bay of Plenty Nico Costa Southland 0 1 vs Auckland Dalton Papalii Auckland 0 1 vs North Harbour Michael Curry Tasman 0 1 vs Canterbury Will Jordan Tasman 0 1 vs Canterbury Sam Nock Northland 0 1 vs Waikato James Tucker Waikato 0 1 vs Northland Akira Ioane Auckland 0 1 vs Canterbury Billy Harmon Canterbury 0 1 vs Auckland

Ranfurly Shield

Pre-season challenges In March 2018, Taranaki accepted Ranfurly Shield challenges from both Heartland Championship unions, Wanganui and Poverty Bay after the regular season draw was confirmed. Tikorangi and Hawera were chosen to host the Ranfurly Shield matches. Taranaki Rugby announced the venues for the pre-season defenses in mid April for July 28 and August 4 at the Tikorangi Domain and TSB Hub.

See also 2018 Heartland Championship

References

External links