The National Provincial Championship has ditched their two-tier system to create a 14-team competition, New Zealand Rugby has announced.
NZR confirmed on Thursday the NPC will do away with the Premiership and Championship system and instead opt for two conferences which will be based on the previous season's standings.
Teams placed 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 will be placed in the Odds conference will the rest will be in the Evens conference for the season. 2021's standings will be used for the first iteration of the new format.
The round robin includes four crossover matches per team, before the competition moves to a knockout format starting with quarter-finals featuring the top four sides from each conference.
"The consultation process has been extensive, with a range of options considered and all key stakeholders included," NZR Head of Community Rugby Steve Lancaster said.
“We are pleased with where the competition format has landed, shifting to a single national championship with seeded pools based on the previous year’s performance provides for evenly balanced conferences and strong competition to qualify for the play-offs.
"Any team can now be crowned national champion, which is exciting not only for teams but also our wider rugby community who support them.”
The NPC will be played over 12 weeks in a yet to be released schedule starting August 5 and includes a mid-week round for all teams.
The Ranfurly Shield remains unchanged and is automatically contested when the holder of the shield plays at home in any round, excluding quarterfinals, semi-finals, and finals, NZR added.The pools and seedings for the 2022 NPC are as follows:
2022 NPC Conferences
Odds
(1) Waikato
(3) Hawke's Bay
(5) Bay of Plenty
(7) Wellington
(9) Otago
(11) Southland
(13) Counties Manukau
Evens
(2) Tasman
(4) Canterbury
(6) Auckland
(8) Taranaki
(10) Manawatū
(12) North Harbour
(14) Northland
SHARE ME