Mitre 10 Cup
 |
|
| Formerly | Air New Zealand Cup (2006–09) ITM Cup (2010–15) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Inaugural season | 2006 |
| CEO | Steve Tew |
| No. of teams | 14 |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Headquarters | Wellington, Wellington |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Canterbury (8th title) |
| Most titles |
Canterbury (8 titles) |
| TV partner(s) | Sky Sport |
| Sponsor(s) | Mitre 10 |
| Official website | Mitre10Cup.co.nz |
The Mitre 10 Cup is a professional Rugby union league consisting of 14 teams, divided equally between the Premiership Division and the Championship Division. The Mitre 10 Cup is one of the major professional rugby leagues in the world, and the second highest professional level of Rugby union in New Zealand. The Mitre 10 Cup's 11-week regular season runs two weeks after Super Rugby to the third week after Labour Day, with each team playing 10 games and having one week playing twice. Following the conclusion of the regular season, four teams from each division advance to their respective playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the final, played between the champions of the divisions semi-finalists.
The Mitre 10 Cup was formed in 1976 as the National Provincial Championship (NPC) before renaming itself the Air New Zealand Cup for the 2006 season. The NZRU introduced the beginning of a professional era, announcing New Zealand's first ever professional rugby competition following the 2005 season. Today, the Mitre 10 Cup is one of the most popular sports league in New Zealand. The team with the most NPC championships is Auckland with fifteen (one title after the National Provincial Championship era); the team with the most Mitre 10 Cup championships is Canterbury with eight. The current champions are Canterbury, who defeated Tasman 43–27 in Christchurch.
The 2006 reorganisation of New Zealand provincial rugby replaced the NPC's former three-division setup with two competitions. This differs from the original two-division setup used in the NPC from its creation in 1976 to 1984 in two key ways. The two current competitions are nationwide, while the original NPC Division two was split on a North Island/South Island basis; and the NZRU ruled that there would initially be no promotion or relegation between the Air New Zealand Cup and Heartland Championship, a feature that had always been present in the former NPC. The number of teams was reduced to 26, as the Marlborough and Nelson Bays unions merged to form the new Tasman union.
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