The 2010
Heartland Championship
The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...
was the fifth edition of the
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
provincial
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
competition, since the 2006 reconstruction. The teams represented the 12 amateur rugby unions.
In Round One, the teams were split into two pools of 6 teams in a
round-robin format (30 games, from 30 August to 25 September).
In Round Two, the first three teams in each pool of Round One competed for the Meads Cup, the others competed for the Lochore Cup. Each team met the teams from the other pool of Round One in a round-robin format (18 games, from 2 October to 16 October). The first four teams in Round Two went on to the semifinals and then the winners went on to the grand final which was played on 31 October.
The winning teams were
Whanganui
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...
in the Meads Cup, and
Wairarapa-Bush in the Lochore Cup.
Round one
Pool A
Top Point Scorers
Week 1
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Week 2
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Week 3
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Week 4
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Week 5
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Pool B
Top Point Scorers
Week 1
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Week 2
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Week 3
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Week 4
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Week 5
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Round two
Meads Cup Pool
Top Point Scorers
Week 6
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Week 7
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Week 8
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Lochore Cup Pool
Top Point Scorers
Week 6
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Week 7
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Week 8
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Finals
The semi-finals began with controversy when
West Coast Rugby Football Union
The West Coast Rugby Football Union, formed in 1890, is the official governing body for rugby union in the Westland County, Hokitika Borough and Greymouth Borough districts, located in the West Coast provincial region of New Zealand, and is aff ...
were effectively expelled from the competition:
The
Meads Cup
The Meads Cup is a rugby union trophy named after King Country and All Blacks player Colin Meads. It is contested during the Heartland Championship. It was first awarded in 2006, when the Heartland Championship format was introduced.
Competition ...
semi-finals were won by North Otago and Whanganui, defeating Mid-Canterbury and Poverty Bay respectively.
In the
Lochore Cup
The Lochore Cup is a New Zealand rugby union trophy named after famed Wairarapa Bush and All Blacks player and coach Brian Lochore. It is contested during the Heartland Championship. It was first awarded in 2006, when the Heartland Championship ...
, Wairarapa Bush and Buller progressed to the final by beating King Country and Horowhenua-Kapiti respectively.
In the final of the Meads Cup, North Otago won the game 39–18 over Whanganui in the match on 30 October at Whitestone Contracting Stadium.
The 2010 Lochore Cup was won 15–9 by Wairarapa Bush in the game against Buller.
References
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20081022184449/http://allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=heartLandFixtures
* https://web.archive.org/web/20081022184715/http://allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=heartLandStandings
* http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/itm-cup-heartland-championship/heartland-championship/
{{Rugby10
Heartland Championship
3
Heartland Championship
The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...