The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup season was the 15th season of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's provincial

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on September 11, when

North Harbour North Harbour or North Harbor may refer to: Canada * North Harbour, St. Mary's Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community on St. Mary's Bay * North Harbour, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, a community on Placentia Bay * North Harbour, ...

hosted

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. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the

Mitre 10 Mitre 10 is an Australian retail and trade hardware store chain. Operations are based on a cooperative system, where the store owners are members of the National group. The chain name references the mitre joint. There are over 400 "Mitre 10" ...

Cup and it was the fifth season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship,

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team,

was relegated to the Championship.

Format

The

Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in traditional Christianity. Mi ...

standings were sorted by a competition points system. Four points were awarded to the winning team, a draw equaled two points, whilst a loss amounted to zero points. Unions could also win their side a respectable bonus point. To receive a bonus point, they must have scored four tries or more or lose by seven or fewer points or less. Each team was placed on their total points received. If necessary of a

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, when two or more teams finish on equal points, the union who defeated the other in a head-to-head got placed higher. In case of a draw between them, the side with the biggest points differential margin got rights to be ranked above. If they were tied on points difference, it was then decided by a highest scored try count or a

coin toss A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a ...

. This seeding format was implemented since the beginning of the 2006 competition. The competition included a promotion-relegation process with the winner of the Championship receiving automatic promotion to the Premiership, replacing the seventh-placed team in the Premiership which was relegated to the Championship for the following year. The regular season consisted of two types of matches. The internal division matches were when each team played the other six unions in their division once, home or away. The cross-division matches were when each team played four teams from the other division, thus missing out on three teams, each from the opposite division. Each union played home or away games against teams from the other division, making a total of ten competition games for each union. The finals format allowed the top four teams from each division move on to the semi-finals. The top two division winners, based on table points, received a home semi-final. In the first round of the finals, the semi-finals, the second division winner hosted the third division winner, and the first division winner hosted the fourth division winner. The final was hosted by the top remaining seed.

Standings

Source: Mitre 10 Cup standings 2020

Standings progression

Regular season

The 2020 Mitre 10 Cup played across ten weeks. The competition started on September 11, with

taking on

North Harbour Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are a ...

in Auckland.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Play-offs

Championship Premiership

Semi-finals

Championship

Premiership

Finals

Championship

Premiership

Statistics

Leading point scorers

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published o
provincial.rugby
(see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Leading try scorers

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published o
provincial.rugby
(see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Points by week

Source: Mitre 10 Cup Fixtures and Results 2020

Tries by week

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published o
provincial.rugby
(see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Sanctions

Ranfurly Shield

Pre-season challenges

For the 2020 pre-season

confirmed challenges against Buller and

North Otago North Otago is an area in New Zealand that covers the area of the Otago region between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre f ...

. It was later revealed the match between Canterbury and North Otago would be rescheduled and the only defence to go ahead due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

* {{NPC National Provincial Championship seasons