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The ITM Cup is a New Zealand domestic rugby union competition, getting spot from late August via Oct (or the 1st 7 days of November). It was launched in 2006 with 14 teams, soon after the National Provincial Championship (NPC) was break up into two individual competitions. The other 12 unions from the NPC now compete in the amateur Heartland Championship. From its inception via the 2009 period, it was sponsored by Air New Zealand, the nationwide airline and flag carrier of New Zealand, and referred to as the Air New Zealand Cup. New Zealand also has five groups in Super Rugby, an elite opposition which also includes sides from Australia and South Africa.

In March 2010 it was introduced that the Air New Zealand Cup would be renamed the ITM Cup with the addition of developing provides cooperative ITM (Independent Timber Merchants) as the major sponsor. The alter arrived simply because Air New Zealand chose to concentrate their rugby sponsorship on the country's national crew, the All Blacks.

The 2006 reorganisation of New Zealand provincial rugby replaced the NPC's former three-division setup with two unique competitions. This differs from the unique two-division set up utilized in the NPC from its generation in 1976 to 1984 in two crucial ways. 1st, the two recent competitions are nationwide, even though the authentic NPC Division Two was split on a North Island/South Island basis. 2nd, the NZRU ruled that there would at first be no advertising or relegation in between the Air New Zealand Cup and Heartland Championship--a function that experienced usually been current in the previous NPC. watch rugby live

Also, the variety of teams was diminished to 26, as the Marlborough and Nelson Bays unions merged to form the new Tasman union.

The 2006 enlargement of the Super 12 and Tri Nations Sequence experienced a significant influence on the Air New Zealand Cup. This expansion developed the Tremendous fourteen, including two extra fixtures to that competitors, and also additional two more Tri-Nations matches for the All Blacks, at least in non-Entire world Cup a long time. Because of these alterations, it was supposed for gamers in the All Blacks selection pool to make only limited appearances in the Air New Zealand Cup.

The 2009 Air New Zealand Cup saw a different framework than previous many years, after a tiny pre-season the Spherical-Robin ran for thirteen months with every staff experiencing each other once. The top four groups superior to the semi-finals and the winners from each and every semi competed for the title in the Grand Last.

To decide which four teams went by way of to the semi-finals the Rugby Union Reward Factors Program was used.

The Rugby Union Points Method:

four factors for a acquire 2 points for a attract 1 level for scoring four tries 1 stage for shedding by seven points or less

So the most factors a winning crew can obtain is 5 and the most a shedding crew can get is 2 points. Semi-Finals are performed among 4 teams, the teams are seeded one to four and the two greatest seeded teams perform at house against the two least expensive seeded teams which means 1 performs 4 and 2 performs three. The greatest seed nevertheless remaining in the grand ultimate performed at residence.