2015 Heartland Championship

The 2015 Heartland Championship, the tenth edition of the Heartland Championship since the 2006 reconstruction of the National Provincial Championship, was a rugby union competition involving the twelve semi-professional rugby unions in New Zealand. The tournament involved a round-robin stage in which the twelve teams played eight games each and then the top four advanced to the Meads Cup semifinals, while fifth to eighth advanced to the Lochore Cup semifinals. In both of these knockout stages the top seeds (first and fifth) played at home against the lowest seeds (fourth and eighth), the second highest seeds (second and sixth) played at home against the third highest seeds (third and seventh) and the final had the higher seed playing at home against the lower seed.

2015 Heartland Championship

Date	22 August 2015 (2015-08-22)–25 October 2015 (2015-10-25)
Countries	New Zealand
Final positions
Champions	Wanganui (Meads Cup) King Country (Lochore Cup)
Runner-up	South Canterbury (Meads Cup) North Otago (Lochore Cup)
← 2014 2016 →

Teams

Buller

East Coast

Horowhenua-Kapiti

King Country

Mid Canterbury

North Otago

Poverty Bay

South Canterbury

Thames Valley

Wairarapa Bush

Wanganui

West Coast

Locations of teams in the 2015 Heartland Championship

The 2015 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams.

Team	Super Rugby partner	Hometown	Home stadium	Capacity
Buller	Crusaders	Westport	Victoria Square	5,000
East Coast	Hurricanes	Ruatoria	Whakarua Park	3,000
Horowhenua-Kapiti	Hurricanes	Levin	Levin Domain	6,500
King Country	Chiefs	Taupō	Owen Delany Park	20,000
Mid Canterbury	Crusaders	Ashburton	Ashburton Showgrounds	5,000
North Otago	Highlanders	Oamaru	Whitestone Contracting Stadium	7,000
Poverty Bay	Hurricanes	Gisborne	More FM Rugby Park	18,000
South Canterbury	Crusaders	Timaru	Fraser Park	12,000
Thames Valley	Chiefs	Paeroa	Paeroa Domain	3,000
Wairarapa Bush	Hurricanes	Masterton	Trust House Memorial Park	10,000
Wanganui	Hurricanes	Wanganui	Cooks Gardens	15,000
West Coast	Crusaders	Greymouth	Rugby Park	6,000

Standings

Pos.	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts
1	South Canterbury	8	7	0	1	346	162	+184	7	0	35
2	Mid Canterbury	8	7	0	1	295	228	+67	5	1	34
3	Wanganui	8	6	1	1	318	185	+133	6	1	33
4	Wairarapa Bush	8	4	0	4	238	192	+46	5	2	23
5	Horowhenua-Kapiti	8	4	0	4	263	261	+2	5	2	23
6	Buller	8	4	0	4	200	187	+13	3	2	21
7	King Country	8	4	1	3	245	192	+53	3	0	21
8	North Otago	8	4	0	4	189	252	−63	2	2	20
9	Thames Valley	8	3	0	5	206	255	−49	4	0	16
10	West Coast	8	3	0	5	184	208	−24	3	1	16
11	Poverty Bay	8	1	0	7	227	333	−106	4	2	10
12	East Coast	8	0	0	8	112	368	−256	1	1	2

	Meads Cup qualification
	Lochore Cup qualification

In the case of two teams being tied on points, the ranking of teams is decided by:

• (1) the winner of the round robin match between the two provinces; then
• (2) highest point difference; then
• (3) most tries scored; then
• (4) a coin toss.

In the case of three or more teams being tied on points, the ranking of teams is decided by:

• (1) the province with the most wins against other tied provinces in the Round Robin; then
• (2) if two teams remain tied they shall be ranked according to the criteria listed above, but if more than two teams remain tied, they shall be ranked according to criteria (2) to (4) only.

Finals

Meads Cup semi-finals Meads Cup final             1 South Canterbury 25 4 Wairarapa Bush 21 1 South Canterbury 11 3 Wanganui 28 2 Mid Canterbury 11 3 Wanganui 26

Lochore Cup semi-finals Lochore Cup final             5 Horowhenua-Kapiti 12 8 North Otago 57 7 King Country 47 8 North Otago 34 6 Buller 6 7 King Country 20

Semifinals

Meads Cup

	17 October 2015	South Canterbury	25–21	Wairarapa Bush	Fraser Park, Timaru
	14:30 (NZST)		Report

	17 October 2015	Mid Canterbury	11–26	Wanganui	Ashburton Showgrounds, Ashburton
	14:30 (NZST)		Report

Lochore Cup

	17 October 2015	Horowhenua-Kapiti	12–57	North Otago	Levin Domain, Levin
	14:00 (NZST)		Report

	17 October 2015	Buller	6–20	King Country	Victoria Square, Westport
	14:30 (NZST)		Report

Finals

Meads Cup

	24 October 2015	South Canterbury	11–28	Wanganui	Fraser Park, Timaru
	16:35 (NZST)		Report

Lochore Cup

	24 October 2015	King Country	47–34	North Otago	Rugby Park, Te Kūiti
	13:35 (NZST)		Report

See also

• Hanan Shield competed for by Mid Canterbury, North Otago and South Canterbury
• Rundle Cup played between Buller and West Coast
• New Zealand Heartland XV
• Ranfurly Shield 2010–2019
• 2015 ITM Cup