Provinces to select 'crossover' matches for 2011 ITM Cup.

23/11/2010 3:39:47 p.m.

The 14 provincial rugby teams in next year’s ITM Cup will have a unique opportunity to choose some of their matches in a special web-conference being hosted by the NZRU tomorrow.

Provincial Rugby Union Chief Executives and Coaches will select three of the four “crossover” matches to be played between the ITM Premiership and ITM Championship teams under next year’s new ITM Cup format. The first of the crossover matches were automatically determined on seedings after the 2010 ITM Cup season.

Teams ranked 1^st to 7^th at the end of the 2010 season, will play next year’s ITM Cup in the ITM Premiership, while the teams ranked 8^th to 14^th will play in the ITM Championship.  All provinces will play every other team within their Premiership / Championship as well as four crossover matches.  These matches carry full competition points. The 2011 ITM Cup has been compacted into eight weeks to accommodate Rugby World Cup 2011.  

NZRU General Manager of Professional Rugby Neil Sorensen said tomorrow’s selection meeting represents a step into a new era of New Zealand provincial rugby.

“All of our Provincial Unions and players have been behind this new structure for the ITM Cup.  It’s exciting that provinces will have the chance to choose some of the crossover matches they want to play,” Sorensen said.

The four crossover matches for each province (two home / two away) will be announced tomorrow following the web-conference.  The scheduling of these matches will be confirmed when the draw is finalised in late 2010 or early 2011.

The Automatic crossover matches already determined by seeding (host province listed first) are:

Otago v Canterbury                                     (14 v 1)

Manawatu v Waikato                                   (13 v 2)

Tasman v Auckland                                                (12 v 3)

North Harbour v Wellington                       (11 v 4)

Northland v Taranaki                                  (10 v 5)

Counties Manukau v Bay of Plenty         (9 v 6)

Hawke’s Bay v Southland                          (8 v 7)

1^st round of crossover picks:  ITM Championship teams (playing at home) will pick an ITM Premiership opponent in reverse seeding order (14 – 8):

14        Otago

13        Manawatu

12        Tasman

11        North Harbour

10        Northland

9          Counties Manukau

8          Hawke’s Bay

2^nd round of crossover picks:  ITM Premiership teams (playing at home) will pick an ITM Championship team in seeding order (1-7):

1          Canterbury

2          Waikato

3          Auckland

4          Wellington

5          Taranaki

6          Bay of Plenty

7          Southland

3^rd round of crossover picks:  ITM Championship teams (playing away) will pick a Premiership team, in seeding order (8-14):

8          Hawke’s Bay

9          Counties Manukau

10        Northland

11        North Harbour

12        Tasman

13        Manawatu

14        Otago

NZRU

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