2016 Mitre 10 Cup - Wikipedia

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2016 Mitre 10 Cup season
Countries	New Zealand
Date	18 August – 29 October
Champions	Canterbury
Runners-up	Tasman
Promoted	North Harbour
Relegated	Hawke's Bay
Matches played	76
Tries scored	497 (average 6.5 per match)
Top point scorer	Marty Banks (Tasman) 161 points
Top try scorer	Rieko Ioane (Auckland) 10 tries
Official website
www.provincial.rugby
← 2015 2017 →

The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup season was the eleventh season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 18, when North Harbour hosted Counties Manukau. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the Mitre 10 Cup and it was the first season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship, North Harbour was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team, Hawke's Bay was relegated to the Championship.

The Mitre 10 Cup standings were sorted by a competition points system. Four points were awarded to the winning team, a draw equaled two points, whilst a loss amounted to zero points. Unions could also win their side a respectable bonus point. To receive a bonus point, they must have scored four tries or more or lose by seven or fewer points or less.^[1] Each team was placed on their total points received. If necessary of a tiebreaker, when two or more teams finish on equal points, the union who defeated the other in a head-to-head got placed higher. In case of a draw between them, the side with the biggest points differential margin got rights to be ranked above. If they were tied on points difference, it was then decided by a highest scored try count or a coin toss.^[2] This seeding format was implemented since the beginning of the 2006 competition.

The competition included a promotion-relegation process with the winner of the Championship receiving automatic promotion to the Premiership, replacing the seventh-placed team in the Premiership which was relegated to the Championship for the following year. The regular season consisted of two types of matches. The internal division matches were when each team played the other six unions in their division once, home or away. The cross-division matches were when each team played four teams from the other division, thus missing out on three teams, each from the opposite division. Each union played home or away games against teams from the other division, making a total of ten competition games for each union.^[3] The finals format allowed the top four teams from each division move on to the semi-finals. The top two division winners, based on table points, received a home semi-final. In the first round of the finals, the semi-finals, the second division winner hosted the third division winner, and the first division winner hosted the fourth division winner. The final was hosted by the top remaining seed.^[4]

Source: Mitre 10 Cup standings 2016^[5]

Premiership
Team	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9
Auckland	0 (7th)	5 (5th)	10 (4th)	16 (2nd)	17 (5th)	22 (4th)	27 (3rd)	28 (4th)	30 (6th)
Canterbury	5 (1st)	10 (1st)	15 (1st)	20 (1st)	21 (1st)	26 (1st)	35 (1st)	40 (1st)	40 (1st)
Counties Manukau	1 (4th)	6 (4th)	11 (2nd)	12 (5th)	19 (3rd)	24 (3rd)	25 (4th)	29 (3rd)	34 (4th)
Hawke's Bay	1 (6th)	2 (7th)	2 (7th)	3 (7th)	8 (7th)	10 (7th)	14 (7th)	14 (7th)	15 (7th)
Taranaki	4 (2nd)	9 (2nd)	10 (3rd)	14 (4th)	20 (2nd)	25 (2nd)	27 (2nd)	32 (2nd)	37 (2nd)
Tasman	4 (3rd)	4 (6th)	8 (6th)	9 (6th)	13 (6th)	18 (6th)	22 (5th)	27 (5th)	34 (3rd)
Waikato	1 (5th)	6 (3rd)	10 (5th)	15 (3rd)	17 (4th)	18 (5th)	20 (6th)	25 (6th)	30 (5th)
Championship
Team	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9
Bay of Plenty	0 (6th)	2 (5th)	4 (5th)	9 (4th)	9 (4th)	12 (5th)	13 (5th)	18 (5th)	23 (4th)
Manawatu	5 (3rd)	10 (2nd)	10 (2nd)	11 (3rd)	15 (3rd)	15 (3rd)	15 (4th)	22 (3rd)	23 (5th)
North Harbour	4 (4th)	4 (4th)	5 (4th)	9 (5th)	9 (5th)	14 (4th)	19 (3rd)	19 (4th)	26 (3rd)
Northland	2 (5th)	2 (7th)	4 (6th)	4 (6th)	4 (6th)	4 (7th)	9 (6th)	10 (7th)	11 (6th)
Otago	5 (1st)	10 (1st)	20 (1st)	24 (1st)	28 (1st)	29 (1st)	29 (1st)	30 (1st)	34 (1st)
Southland	0 (7th)	2 (6th)	2 (7th)	2 (7th)	2 (7th)	6 (6th)	6 (7th)	11 (6th)	11 (7th)
Wellington	5 (2nd)	5 (3rd)	9 (3rd)	13 (2nd)	18 (2nd)	23 (2nd)	28 (2nd)	30 (2nd)	32 (2nd)
The table above shows a team's progression throughout the season. For each week, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall division log position in brackets.
Key:	Win	Draw	Loss	Bye

The 2016 Mitre 10 Cup played across nine weeks with every team playing one Wednesday night fixture in a double-up round where they played twice that week. The competition started on Thursday, August 18, with North Harbour taking on Counties Manukau at QBE Stadium. Hawke's Bay hosted Wellington and Auckalnd versed Canterbury, in two repeat matchups of last year's finalists.^[6]

FB 15 Johnny McNicholl RW 14 Nathan Earle  10'  74' OC 13 Jordie Barrett IC 12 Rob Thompson  70' LW 11 George Bridge FH 10 Richie Mo'unga SH 9 Ere Enari  61' N8 8 Luke Whitelock (c) OF 7 Tom Sanders  74' BF 6 Reed Prinsep  60'  76' RL 5 Dominic Bird LL 4 David McDuling TP 3 Siate Tokolahi  71' HK 2 Ben Funnell  63'  74' LP 1 Daniel Lienert-Brown  49' Replacements: HK 16 Nathan Vella  63'  74' PR 17 Alex Hodgman  49' PR 18 Oliver Jager  71' FL 19 Jed Brown  74' FL 20 Billy Harmon  60'  76' SH 21 Jack Stratton  61' CE 22 Inga Finau  70' FB 23 Ben Volavola  74'

FB 15 Mitchell Hunt RW 14 Viliami Lolohea OC 13 Kieron Fonotia  42' IC 12 Alex Nankivell LW 11 James Lowe FH 10 Marty Banks  69' SH 9 Billy Guyton  63' N8 8 Pete Samu  71' OF 7 Shane Christie (c) BF 6 Shannon Frizell RL 5 Quinten Strange  57' LL 4 Alex Ainley  40' TP 3 Ross Geldenhuys  47' HK 2 Andrew Makalio  61' LP 1 Tim Perry  47' Replacements: HK 16 Jesse MacDonald  61' PR 17 Kane Hames  47' PR 18 Siosiua Halanukonuka  47' LK 19 Pari Pari Parkinson  57' FL 20 Ethan Blackadder  71' SH 21 Finlay Christie  63' CE 22 David Havili  42' FB 23 Caleb Makene  69'

No.	Player	Team	Points	Average	Details
1	Marty Banks	Tasman	161	16.10	2 T, 26 C, 33 P, 0 D
2	Marty McKenzie	Taranaki	145	13.18	2 T, 30 C, 25 P, 0 D
3	Simon Hickey	Auckland	143	14.30	2 T, 29 C, 25 P, 0 D
4	Bryn Gatland	North Harbour	123	10.25	0 T, 21 C, 26 P, 1 D
5	Jordie Barrett	Canterbury	123	10.25	5 T, 22 C, 18 P, 0 D
6	Jackson Garden-Bachop	Wellington	122	12.20	2 T, 32 C, 16 P, 0 D
7	Ihaia West	Hawke's Bay	109	10.90	3 T, 23 C, 16 P, 0 D
8	Fletcher Smith	Otago	106	8.83	0 T, 20 C, 22 P, 0 D
9	Otere Black	Manawatu	89	8.90	0 T, 22 C, 15 P, 0 D
10	Richie Mo'unga	Canterbury	88	8.00	5 T, 18 C, 9 P, 0 D

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published on provincial.rugby (see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

No.	Player	Team	Tries	Average
1	Rieko Ioane	Auckland	10	1.00
2	Joe Tupe	Bay of Plenty	7	0.64
3	Tevita Li	North Harbour	7	0.58
4	Ngani Laumape	Manawatu	7	0.70
5	Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara	Waikato	7	0.70
6	Asafo Aumua	Wellington	6	0.55
7	Naulia Dawai	Otago	6	0.50
8	Jordan Taufua	Countis Manukau	6	0.55
9	Lalakai Foketi	Bay of Plenty	6	0.55
10	Jonah Lowe	Hawke's Bay	5	0.50

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published on provincial.rugby (see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Average
Auckland	3	43	37	15	51	16	57	59	26	30	44	38	54	17	31	49	32	35	335	302	33.50	30.20
Bay of Plenty	22	30	34	39	32	33	52	25	10	24	54	64	34	44	38	33	26	24	302	316	30.20	31.60
Canterbury	43	3	45	14	52	34	63	7	13	19	45	34	68	57	47	18	21	33	397	219	39.70	21.90
Counties Manukau	17	20	39	34	48	20	27	28	59	56	35	26	10	15	16	14	33	21	284	234	28.40	23.40
Hawke's Bay	26	36	28	55	20	48	31	88	43	29	29	36	30	21	22	46	24	26	253	385	25.30	38.50
Manawatu	34	27	34	31	10	19	25	29	19	13	19	30	21	30	83	66	14	21	259	266	25.90	26.60
North Harbour	20	17	15	26	17	21	29	25	13	24	35	14	44	34	18	47	71	55	262	263	26.20	26.30
Northland	27	34	15	37	62	85	25	52	23	33	21	29	48	27	31	39	28	44	280	380	28.00	38.00
Otago	40	17	44	21	66	60	30	27	24	13	34	45	17	54	14	16	21	14	290	267	29.00	26.70
Southland	17	40	31	34	16	51	14	30	29	43	34	51	21	60	39	31	0	56	201	396	20.10	39.60
Taranaki	30	22	55	28	20	25	30	14	50	49	30	19	34	39	54	31	35	32	338	259	33.80	25.90
Tasman	24	19	14	45	25	20	27	30	33	23	36	29	15	10	49	31	83	27	306	234	30.60	23.40
Waikato	19	24	26	15	19	10	35	32	20	20	26	35	50	77	46	22	28	24	269	259	26.90	25.90
Wellington	36	26	21	44	21	17	28	27	24	10	29	21	60	21	59	104	24	28	302	298	30.20	29.80

Source: Mitre 10 Cup Fixtures and Results 2016^[7]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Average
Auckland	0	6	5	2	6	1	6	7	2	4	6	6	7	2	4	4	4	5	40	37	4.00	3.70
Bay of Plenty	3	3	5	5	4	4	8	3	1	4	8	8	5	6	5	5	4	3	43	41	4.30	4.10
Canterbury	6	0	5	1	8	4	8	1	1	1	7	4	7	7	6	2	2	5	50	25	5.00	2.50
Counties Manukau	2	2	5	5	5	2	3	3	8	5	5	4	1	0	1	2	5	2	35	25	3.50	2.50
Hawe's Bay	4	5	4	7	2	5	3	10	6	2	4	5	2	3	3	6	3	4	31	47	3.10	4.70
Manwatu	4	4	4	4	1	1	3	3	1	1	1	4	3	2	13	9	2	3	32	31	3.20	3.10
North Harbour	2	2	2	4	2	0	3	3	1	2	4	1	6	5	2	6	9	7	31	30	3.10	3.00
Northland	4	4	2	5	7	12	3	8	2	3	3	4	5	4	5	5	4	6	35	51	3.50	5.10
Otago	5	1	5	3	8	7	3	3	2	1	4	7	2	7	2	1	3	2	34	32	3.40	3.20
Southland	1	5	4	4	1	6	1	3	2	6	3	6	3	9	5	5	0	8	20	52	2.00	5.20
Taranaki	3	3	7	4	2	1	3	1	6	7	4	1	4	5	7	4	5	4	41	30	4.10	3.00
Tasman	2	1	1	5	1	2	3	3	3	2	5	4	0	1	4	4	11	3	30	25	3.00	2.50
Waikato	1	2	4	2	1	1	5	4	3	3	4	5	7	7	6	3	4	4	35	31	3.50	3.10
Wellington	5	4	3	5	0	2	3	3	4	1	4	3	9	3	8	15	4	4	40	40	4.00	4.00

Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published on provincial.rugby (see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Player	Team	Red	Yellow	Sent off match(es)
Sam Vaka	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs North Harbour
Hamish Northcott	Manawatu	0	1	vs Northland
Melani Nanai	Auckland	0	1	vs Canterbury
Monty Ioane	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Counties Manukau
Kieran Moffat	Southland	0	1	vs Auckland
Lima Sopoaga	Southland	0	1	vs Auckland
Lee Roy Atalifo	Canterbury	0	1	vs Northland
Shane Neville	Northland	0	1	vs Bay of Plenty
Tom Robinson	Northland	0	1	vs Bay of Plenty
Isaia Walker-Leawere	Wellington	0	1	vs Counties Manukau
Jonathan Ruru	Otago	0	1	vs Tasman
Jonah Lowe	Hawke's Bay	0	1	vs Canterbury
Loni Uhila	Waikato	0	1	vs Auckland
Mikaele Mafi	Southland	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Ihaia West	Hawke's Bay	0	1	vs Southland
Howard Sililoto	Northland	0	1	vs Tasman
Luke Whitelock	Canterbury	0	1	vs Manawatu
Tawera Kerr-Barlow	Waikato	0	1	vs Taranaki
Solomona Sakalia	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Southland
Kara Pryor	Northland	0	1	vs Wellington
Ash Dixon	Hawke's Bay	0	1	vs Tasman
Jimmy Cowan	Southland	0	1	vs North Harbour
Augustine Pulu	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs Tasman
Mitchell Brown	Taranaki	0	1	vs Canterbury
Sam Lousi	Wellington	0	1	vs Manawatu
Tevita Taufuʻi	Waikato	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Jared Proffit	Taranaki	0	1	vs Wellington
Culum Retallick	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Manawatu
Ethan Blackadder	Tasman	0	1	vs North Harbour
Kieron Fonotia	Tasman	0	1	vs North Harbour
Kylem O'Donnell	Taranaki	0	1	vs Auckland
Scott Scrafton	Auckland	0	1	vs Taranaki
Joshua Dickson	Otago	0	1	vs Manawatu
Sione Fifita	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs Canterbury
Ben Funnell	Canterbury	0	1	vs Counties Manukau
Henry Stowers	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Tomasi Palu	Wellington	0	1	vs Waikato
Daniel Hawkins	Northland	0	1	vs North Harbour
Afa Fa'atau	North Harbour	0	1	vs Northland
Tom Franklin	Otago	0	1	vs Bay of Plenty
Glenn Preston	North Harbour	0	1	vs Otago
Nathan Earle	Canterbury	0	1	vs Tasman
Alex Ainley	Tasman	0	1	vs Canterbury

After winning the Ranfurly Shield off Hawke's Bay in their final game of 2015, Waikato confirmed their pre-season defences against Thames Valley, King Country and Wanganui. The Thames Valley and King Country unions would take on Waikato for the fifth time, while Wanganui gained a mandatory shield challenge as the current holders of the Meads Cup. The first challenge for 2016 was against Thames Valley at the Paeroa Domain. King Country's challenge was played at Bedford Park in Matamata with Wanganui being the last pre-season challenge.^[8]

Waikato had little trouble getting a victory in their first shield defense of the season, winning 83–13 in Paeroa. They ran in thirteen tries in front of a 2,500 capacity crowd. Winger Iliesa Ratuva scored a hat-trick on debut for his province, while number 8 Whetu Douglas and prop Atunaisa Moli both got a brace. Thames Valley managed two second-half tries, the first after Waikato had reached fifty points to veteran Brett Ranga. Their second came when centre Jone Koroinsagana scored an intercept. The match also featured a return for former Ireland half-back Isaac Boss, who first played for the province in 1999 before heading to Ulster in 2005.^[9]

In their second defense, Waikato got past King Country 55–0 in Matamata. First scoring was lock Brian Alainu'uese, getting over after a series of pick and goes. Jordan Trainor then soon after added a penalty. Flanker Murray Iti scored his side's fifth, but there was no further scoring action until the 74th minute, when Sevu Reece, on as a substitute, crossed over in the far left corner. Matthew Lansdown, another substitute, then added Waikato's seventh with two minutes to play, and he was followed in the final minute by Tevita Taufuʻi, who got their eighth.^[10]

• 2016 Heartland Championship

• Official website