Rugby: National Provincial Championship

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has announced the new format for the Bunnings Warehouse NPC with all 14 Provincial Unions to compete for one National Provincial Championship title. The Bunnings NPC will see Provincial Unions seeded into two conferences based on the previous season standings for round robin matches and quarterfinals. Teams placed 1, 3, 5,…

The Bunnings NPC is the highlight of the New Zealand rugby calendar. Formerly known as the National Provincial Championship, this domestic competition was updated in 2022 and features the top 14 provincial rugby union teams in the country. Every year, the tournament's top sides battle to win the championship, lift the trophy and be recognised as…

Kia ora, good afternoon and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the National Provincial Championship final between Taranaki and Hawke's Bay at New Plymouth's Yarrow Stadium. The first all-North Island final since 2007 sees second play fifth for the spoils. Taranaki reached this stage by turning back the challenge of nine-time champions…

The competition will start on April 13, a fortnight later than usual, with finals played three months later on July 13. Permanent changes were on the cards after the rugby union toyed with a shorter season in 2020 and 2022 amid Covid challenges. There was one round in 2020, while a north-south format was introduced followed by one full round last…

The Turbos start the national provincial championship at CET Arena on Saturday night, with a big challenge against defending champions and Ranfurly Shield holders Wellington. Manawatū lost every game last year, but things are looking different with Rogers in charge this year and the young players are more experienced. Aside from injuries to Johnny…

It has been one of those days for Rhys Marshall. The clutch on his father's tractor on the family's sheep and beef farm north of New Plymouth on New Zealand's west coast has given up the ghost and the former Munster hooker has one of those Bronco fitness tests looming as he switches gears for pre-season training with Waikato.

Tom Jordan: 'Where is this going...am I even good enough?' There have been times during his three-year, pandemic-ravaged stint in Scotland that Tom Jordan has wondered what on earth he signed up for. Why he swapped home and familiarity and a shot at New Zealand's provincial showpiece for hours of fruitless training sessions and no hint of…

Australian-born New Zealander Ueta Tufuga is the baby of the family. "I'm actually the youngest. It does make me the smallest but it also makes me the fastest" he said with a laugh. "I'll take that." The sport has taken Tufuga, whose first name is pronounced Wet-ah, to North America where the hard-running centre has found a home with the Toronto…

On Thursday, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) announced it had scrapped the contentious promotion-relegation system and revealed a revamped national provincial competition. Gone is the Premiership and Championship model, in place since 2011, replaced by a competition in which all 14 teams can win the top prize. Barnes said he was stoked with the change in…

At last count, Woodlands' population sat at 273. There's not a whole heap going on in the small rural settlement 16km out of Invercargill. It's a flicker out of the corner of the eye for those traveling north from Invercargill to Gore or Dunedin. There's The Grocer - formerly known as Woodlands Butchery - on the corner of State Highway 1 and Wyeth…

The Taranaki head coach twice used the word "stoked" when discussing New Zealand Rugby's (NZR) decision to revamp the National Provincial Championship ahead of the 2022 season. The governing body on Thursday announced a new-look format for the NPC, scrapping the contentious promotion-relegation system. Gone is the premiership and championship…

New Zealand will be without loose forwards Ardie Savea and Shannon Frizell for their Rugby Championship match against Australia in Melbourne on 15 September. Savea, who has been outstanding in an underperforming team this season, will remain in New Zealand to prepare for the birth of his third child, while Frizell injured his ribs in…