2006 Air New Zealand Cup
| 2006 Air New Zealand Cup season | |
|---|---|
| Countries |
 New Zealand
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| Date | 28 July – 21 October 2006 |
| Champions | Waikato |
| Runners-up | Wellington |
| Matches played | 70 |
| Tries scored | 374 (average 5.343 per match) |
| Top point scorer |
Jimmy Gopperth (Wellington) 121 points |
| Top try scorer |
Richard Kahui (Waikato) 8 tries |
| Official website | |
| www |
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2007 →
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The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the inaugural season of the Air New Zealand Cup, contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 2006. At the end of the regular season, the top team from Repechage A and B joined with teams from the Top Six who entered the quarter-finals, with the winners going through to the semi-finals. The winner of each semi-final qualified for the final, which was contested between Waikato and Wellington, with Waikato winning 37–31 to win the first Air New Zealand Cup title.
This season was the first of the expanded competition, which has succeeded the First Division of the National Provincial Championship. It also saw the introduction of four new teams, Hawke's Bay, Counties Manukau, Manawatu and the newly formed Tasman (a merger of Nelson Bays and Marlborough). On 3 June 2006, the Commerce Commission accepted the NZRU proposal of a salary cap for the Air New Zealand Cup. This was mainly so that the talent pool of players could be spread between the 14 rugby unions.
Covering ten weeks, the schedule featured a total of 70 matches. The 14 teams were grouped by the top three places in each pool, highlighted in green, advance to the Top Six in Round two. Auckland secured the top position at the start of Round two. Competition points from Round one carry over to Round two, and teams are seeded according to points total. If necessary, tiebreakers are employed at the end of Rounds one and two in the following order:
Three teams receive two home fixtures in Round Two:
The remaining three teams receive only one home fixture apiece.
Similarly, the top two teams in each repechage pool, based on competition points earned in Round one (with tiebreakers applied as needed), earn two home fixtures in Round two, with the other teams receiving one apiece. Bay of Plenty and Counties Manukau earned the extra home fixture in Repechage A, while Southland and Taranaki earned this privilege in Repechage B.
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Wikipedia