Magpies 2022 draw announced
Magpies 2022 draw announced
Domestic rugby season preparations are in full swing with the 2022 season draws announced for the Bunnings Warehouse NPC, Farah Palmer Cup (FPC) presented by Bunnings Warehouse and the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship.
The new Bunnings Warehouse NPC format, featuring all 14 teams playing for one title for the first time since 2010, kicks off on Friday 5 August with Manawatu playing Canterbury in Palmerston North.
The new format was announced in February and sees teams placed into two pools made up of teams with seedings based on the previous season’s standings. Odd numbered teams will be in one pool, and even number teams will be in the other with four crossover matches.
The Magpies season kicks off with a Ranfurly Shield defence at McLean Park on Wednesday the 29th of June against Heartland team South Canterbury followed by Poverty Bay on Saturday July 30th.
“We have a very challenging start, particularly coming off the back of the Pacific Nations Cup, where we hope to have a number of players representing their home nations.”
A week later the Magpies have their first Bunnings NCP match against Waikato at FMG stadium and on Friday 12 of August the Magpies play their first home game at McLean Park.
"Obviously really excited about our home shield fixtures, it will be a great first home game against Counties Manukau after two years of covid restricted crowds” Syms added.
Commercial Manager Dan Sommerville said “Our draw sees an exciting mix of home and away matches, we have a great range of kick off times for rugby fans, hospitality and families.”
All 2022 sponsors and members will receive entry into the Magpies home fixtures below:
Heartland Ranfurly Shield Matches
- v South Canterbury – Wednesday 29th June, 4:35pm
- v Poverty Bay – Saturday 30th July, 3pm (kick off time TBC)
Ray White Club Finals – Times TBC
- Friday 15th July – Division 3 and Division 1 finals
- Saturday 16th July – Division 2, Colts and Ray White Maddison Trophy finals.
Bunnings NPC
- v Counties Manukau - Friday 12th August, 7:05pm (charity jersey game)
- v Nth Harbour – Saturday 27th August, 2:05pm
- v Southland – Saturday 10th September, 2:05pm
- v Wellington – Saturday 17th September, 7:05pm
- v Tasman – Friday 30th September, 7:05pm
The Bunnings NPC sees teams seeded into two conferences based on the previous season’s standings following the round-robin matches and quarterfinals. Teams placed 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 will play in the Odds conference and teams placed 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 will play in the Evens conference in 2022. The round-robin includes four crossover matches per team, where teams from the Odds conference will play teams from the Evens conference.
Odds teams this season are Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Otago, Southland, and Counties Manukau. Evens teams this season include Tasman, Canterbury, Auckland, Taranaki, Manawatū, North Harbour and Northland.
