NPC rugby format revised for 2022

Rugby’s National Provincial Championship will trot out yet another format for the 2022 season.

The new format means that any of the nation’s 14 top provincial unions can be crowned NPC champion at season’s end.

Instead of the NPC being split into premiership and championship divisions, this year it will be divided into two conferences, with all 14 teams now competing for the same title.

The conferences will be based on the previous season’s standings, with teams playing all six conference rivals, as well as four cross-conference games.

The top four teams in each conference will play off for semifinal spots, with the top two teams across the conferences playing against each other in the semis. Winners will meet in the NPC final.

Tasman have drawn a tough pool, courtesy of their second-place finish last season, ending up alongside Canterbury, Auckland and Taranaki, the form side in 2021.

Tasman co-head coach Gray Cornelius said it was good to have the new draw out, giving the Mako certainty about who they would be playing in 2022.

He said that despite the change from a divisional to a conference system, the bottom line remained the same.

“We are just going to have to play well in our 10 games … I have always felt that there has been very little between the [premiership and championship] teams over the last few years … it has always been tough going, no matter who you came up against.”

Taking on such powerhouses at Canterbury, Auckland and Taranaki in their conference will put more pressure on Tasman but, as Gray points out, they would have been playing those sides under the previous format.

“We are actually looking forward to it,” he added. “We haven’t played Taranaki for a long time … so it will be great to have a crack at them.”

New Zealand Rugby bosses said a review of the NPC format had taken place and a wide range of options was considered before settling on the latest variation.

The NPC will be played over 12 weeks from August 5, with the inclusion of a mid-week round.

The Ranfurly Shield remains unchanged and is automatically contested when the holder of the shield plays at home in any round, excluding quarterfinals, semi-finals, and finals.

Waikato won the Premiership title in 2021 beating Tasman in the final, while Taranaki went unbeaten for the season to win the Championship crown.

The pools and seedings for the 2022 NPC are as follows:

Conference A (Odds): (1) Waikato, (3) Hawke’s Bay, (5) Bay of Plenty, (7) Wellington, (9) Otago, (11) Southland, (13) Counties Manukau.

Conference B (Evens): (2) Tasman, (4) Canterbury, (6) Auckland, (8) Taranaki, (10) Manawatū, (12) North Harbour, (14) Northland.

Last year’s placing in brackets.