2022 Heartland Championship

2022 Heartland Championship
Date20 August 2022 (2022-08-20)–22 October 2022 (2022-10-22)
CountriesNew Zealand New Zealand
Final positions
ChampionsSouth Canterbury (Meads Cup)
East Coast (Lochore Cup)
Runner-upWhanganui (Meads Cup)
Mid Canterbury (Lochore Cup)
Tournament statistics
Matches played54
← 2021
2023 →

The 2022 Heartland Championship, was the 16th edition of the Heartland Championship, a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur provincial unions in New Zealand.

The tournament began with a round-robin stage in which the twelve teams played eight games each, from which the top four advanced to the Meads Cup semifinals, while fifth to eighth advanced to the Lochore Cup semifinals. In both of these knockout stages the top seeds (first and fifth) played at home against the lowest seeds (fourth and eighth), the second highest seeds (second and sixth) played at home against the third highest seeds (third and seventh) and the final featured the higher seed playing at home against the lower seed.

Teams

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Locations of teams in the 2016 Heartland Championship

The 2022 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams:

Team Super Rugby partner Home ground(s)
Buller Crusaders Westport
East Coast Hurricanes Ruatoria
Horowhenua-Kapiti Hurricanes Levin
King Country Chiefs Taupō
Mid Canterbury Crusaders Ashburton
North Otago Highlanders Oamaru
Poverty Bay Hurricanes Gisborne
South Canterbury Crusaders Timaru
Thames Valley Chiefs Paeroa
Wairarapa Bush Hurricanes Masterton
Wanganui Hurricanes Wanganui
West Coast Crusaders Greymouth

Regular season standings

In the regular season, South Canterbury topped the standings with 39 points after winning all eight games.[1]

Pos. Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 South Canterbury 8 8 0 0 368 122 +246 7 0 39
2 Whanganui 8 7 0 1 352 142 +210 7 1 36
3 Thames Valley 8 5 0 3 247 189 +58 5 2 27
4 King Country 8 5 0 3 218 201 +17 3 2 25
5 North Otago 8 4 0 4 315 201 +114 5 2 23
6 Horowhenua-Kapiti 8 4 0 4 218 298 −80 3 1 20
7 East Coast 8 4 0 4 155 242 −87 2 0 18
8 Mid Canterbury 8 3 0 5 214 249 −35 4 2 18
9 Buller 8 3 0 5 216 386 −170 5 0 17
10 Poverty Bay 8 3 0 5 183 242 −59 3 1 16
11 Wairarapa Bush 8 2 0 6 199 297 −98 3 2 13
12 West Coast 8 0 0 8 185 301 −116 4 3 7
Meads Cup qualification
Lochore Cup qualification

Finals

In the Meads Cup the top placegetter plays at their home ground against the fourth team while the second placed team plays at home against the third. In the Lochore Cup the fifth placegetter plays at their home ground against the eighth team while the sixth placed team plays at home against the seventh. The winning semi-finalists then meet in the respective finals for each Cup, played at the home-ground of the team ranked highest in the regular season.

Meads Cup

In the 2022 season South Canterbury set a record for the most points (491), tries (69) and conversions (46). They were a class above the opposition winning their semi-final 76–9 over King Country and the final by 47–36 over Whanganui.[2][3][4]

The 47 points scored by South Canterbury in the final was also a record as was Sam Briggs individual total of 22.

Lochore Cup

North Otago finished the regular season 5th and therefore top qualifier for the Lochore Cup. However, they lost at home 15–31 to Mid Canterbury in their semi-final. East Coast upset Horowhenua-Kapiti 37–30 at Levin.

East Coast then beat Mid Canterbury by 25–20 in the final. It was the first Lochore Cup title for East Coast. They become the 6th team to have won both the Meads Cup and the Lochore Cup.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Heartland FIXTURES 2022 - RUGBY HEARTLAND". rugbyheartland.co.nz. May 18, 2022.
  2. ^ "South Canterbury reaching unparalleled heights in 2022". 29 September 2022.
  3. ^ "South Canterbury create Heartland history". allblacks.com. August 16, 2023.
  4. ^ "Bunnings Heartland 2022 | FINAL Highlights | South Canterbury v Whanganui". October 21, 2022 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ "Bunnings Heartland 2022 | FINAL Highlights | East Coast v Mid Canterbury". allblacks.com. October 23, 2022.