Provinces make picks for 2012 ITM Cup crossovers

Provincial rivalries old and new will feature in New Zealand’s favourite provincial rugby contest, the 2012 ITM Cup which will again include mid-week games.

Pass It On Tweet 11

New Zealand’s 14 ITM Cup provincial teams met by web-conference today to make their picks for three of the four ‘crossover’ matches to be played next year between ITM Cup Premiership and Championship teams.

NZRU General Manager Professional Rugby Neil Sorensen said this year’s compacted ITM Cup was a winner with both fans and teams this year.

“Despite the condensed format of this year’s ITM Cup, it was really exciting and as always, the results don’t always go the way some expect. The crossover matches keep teams on their toes, and when the Ranfurly Shield is in the mix, there’s always an extra edge to those matches,” Sorensen said.

After positive feedback from Provincial Unions, the NZRU has scheduled two mid-week matches in the 10 round draw over eight weeks in 2012. The first round of the ITM Cup will begin on 23 August with the Finals on 27 October 2012.

Teams ranked 1st to 7th at the end of the 2011 season will play in the ITM Cup Premiership next year, while teams ranked 8th to 14th will play in the ITM Cup Championship. All provinces will play every other team within their Premiership / Championship plus their four crossover matches which carry full competition points.

One of the four crossover matches is automatically set based on seeding at the end of this year’s ITM Cup. Today’s web-conference completed the selections for the other three crossover matches, confirming four of the 10 matches all teams will play.

The 2011 ITM Cup saw some stunning upsets and highlights including the Ranfurly Shield changing hands three times before Taranaki claimed the Log o’ Wood for the summer.

After finishing bottom of the 2011 ITM Cup Premiership, the Southland Stags move across to the Championship for the 2012 season, swapping with this year’s ITM Cup Championship winners Hawke’s Bay who move over to the Premiership.

The full ITM Cup draw is expected to be confirmed in the next two months.

The crossover matches confirmed after today’s web-conference are:

Automatic crossover games, as determined by 2011 seeding (home games for Championship teams), for 2012 are:

Tasman v Canterbury (14 v 1)

North Harbour v Waikato (13 v 2)

Northland v Taranaki (12 v 3)

Counties Manukau v Bay of Plenty (11 v 4)

Otago v Auckland (10 v 5)

Manawatu v Wellington (9 v 6)

Southland v Hawke’s Bay (8 v 7)

1st round of picks: Championship teams picked a Premiership team, in reverse seeding order (eg, 14 to 8), for a home match:

14 Tasman v Bay of Plenty

13 North Harbour v Auckland

12 Northland v Canterbury

11 Counties Manukau v Waikato

10 Otago v Wellington

9 Manawatu v Hawke’s Bay

8 Southland v Taranaki

2nd round of picks: Premiership teams picked a Championship team, in seeding order (eg, 1 to 7), for a home match:

1 Canterbury v North Harbour

2 Waikato v Northland

3 Taranaki v Tasman

4 Bay of Plenty v Otago

5 Auckland v Manawatu

6 Wellington v Southland

7 Hawke’s Bay v Counties Manukau

3rd round of picks: Championship teams picked a Premiership team, in seeding order (eg, 8 to 14), for an away match:

Canterbury v Southland 8

Taranaki v Manawatu 9

Hawke’s Bay v Otago 10

Auckland v Counties Manukau 11

Bay of Plenty v Northland 12

Wellington v North Harbour 13

Waikato v Tasman 14