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The ITM Cup is a New Zealand domestic rugby union opposition, taking place from late August by way of October (or the initial week of November). It was started in 2006 with fourteen groups, following the Nationwide Provincial Championship (NPC) was break up into two independent competitions. The other 12 unions from the NPC now compete in the novice Heartland Championship. From its inception through the 2009 season, it was sponsored by Air New Zealand, the national airline and flag provider of New Zealand, and referred to as the Air New Zealand Cup. New Zealand also has five teams in Super Rugby, an elite opposition which also involves sides from Australia and South Africa.

In March 2010 it was declared that the Air New Zealand Cup would be renamed the ITM Cup with the addition of creating materials cooperative ITM (Unbiased Timber Merchants) as the main sponsor. The adjust came because Air New Zealand selected to concentrate their rugby sponsorship on the country's nationwide team, the All Blacks.

The 2006 reorganisation of New Zealand provincial rugby changed the NPC's former a few-division setup with two unique competitions. This differs from the original two-division setup used in the NPC from its creation in 1976 to 1984 in two crucial ways. Initial, the two present competitions are nationwide, although the authentic NPC Division Two was split on a North Island/South Island basis. Second, the NZRU ruled that there would originally be no marketing or relegation in between the Air New Zealand Cup and Heartland Championship--a attribute that had constantly been present in the previous NPC. rugby world cup online

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

The 2006 enlargement of the Super twelve and Tri Nations Collection experienced a main impact on the Air New Zealand Cup. This expansion designed the Tremendous fourteen, incorporating two additional fixtures to that competitiveness, and also included two a lot more Tri-Nations matches for the All Blacks, at least in non-World Cup a long time. Due to the fact of these alterations, it was supposed for players in the All Blacks choice pool to make only constrained appearances in the Air New Zealand Cup.

The 2009 Air New Zealand Cup saw a different structure than previous many years, after a little pre-season the Spherical-Robin ran for 13 weeks with each and every team facing every other once. The leading 4 teams advanced to the semi-finals and the winners from every semi competed for the title in the Grand Ultimate.

To determine which four groups went by means of to the semi-finals the Rugby Union Reward Details System was utilised.

The Rugby Union Points Technique:

4 points for a acquire two points for a draw one position for scoring four tries one stage for dropping by seven points or considerably less

So the most points a profitable crew can receive is five and the most a dropping team can acquire is two points. Semi-Finals are performed among 4 teams, the teams are seeded one to 4 and the two greatest seeded teams play at residence from the two least expensive seeded teams meaning one plays 4 and two performs three. The optimum seed nevertheless remaining in the grand final performed at home.