2022 Bunnings NPC - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2022 Bunnings NPC season
Countries	New Zealand
Date	5 August – 22 October
Champions	Wellington
Runners-up	Canterbury
Matches played	77
Tries scored	544 (average 7.1 per match)
Top point scorer	Fergus Burke (Canterbury) 147 points
Top try scorer	Tevita Li (North Harbour) 13 tries
Official website
www.provincial.rugby
← 2021 2023 →

The 2022 Bunnings NPC season was the 17th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition, the National Provincial Championship, since it turned professional in 2006. It involved the top 14 provincial rugby unions of New Zealand, which – under a new format introduced in 2022 – all played for the same title for the first time since the 2010 season. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the Bunnings NPC. The regular season began on 5 August 2022, when Manawatu hosted Canterbury. The final took place on 22 October 2022.

In 2022, a new competition format was introduced.^[1] In this new format,^[2] the 14 provincial unions participating in the Bunnings NPC are no longer competing in two separate divisions – a Premiership and a Championship division – that play for their own title. Instead, the 14 teams are playing for one NPC title and are seeded in two equal conferences: an "Odds Conference" and an "Evens Conference". The seeding is determined by the ranking on the competition table of the previous season, with the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th ranked teams forming the Odds Conference and the provinces finishing 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th forming the Evens Conference.

All provincial teams played ten games during the regular season (round robin): six games against the teams in their own conference and four crossover games against teams from the other conference. Each team played five games at home and five games away. In 2022, the 10 round robin games are played over a period of nine weeks (starting on Friday 5 August 2022) and include one mid-week game to be played on a Wednesday night.^[3]

The regular season was followed by quarter-finals to be played by the four highest-ranked teams in each conference. The finals rankings are determined by the number of competition points earned during the regular season. Competition points can be gained in the following way: four points are awarded to the winning team, two points to each team for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams can also receive a bonus point if they score four or more tries in a match, or lose by seven points or less.^[4]

If two or more provincial teams finish with an equal number of competition points, the following tiebreaker rules apply. If two unions are tied, the union which has defeated the other in a head-to-head is placed higher. In case of a draw between them, the side with the biggest points difference is ranked higher. If three or more unions are tied and they have all played each other, the team with most competition points in that year against the other tied unions is ranked higher; if they have not all played each other, the team with the biggest points difference in the round robin is ranked higher. In all cases, if these unions are still tied, the ranking is decided by the highest number of tries scored, the most points scored, or a coin toss.^[2]

Quarter-finals are played within each conference, with the highest ranked team in each conference playing the fourth ranked team in the same conference, and the second ranked team in each conference playing the third ranked team in the same conference:

QF 1: Odds 1 v Odds 4;

QF 2: Odds 2 v Odds 3;

QF 3: Evens 1 v Evens 4; and

QF 4: Evens 2 v Evens 3.

The two quarter-finals winners of the Odds conference will play the two quarter-finals winners of the Evens Conference (QF1 v QF4 and QF2 v QF3) at the home ground of the team with the higher finals ranking.

The NPC Final will be played between the two semi-final winners, again at the home venue of the team with the higher finals ranking.

No changes have been made to the rules governing Ranfurly Shield Challenges. Every home game during the regular season played by the union that holds the Ranfurly Shield is a mandartory challenge match. No challenge matches will be played after the regular season has ended (i.e., during the finals). A holder who competes in the Bunnings NPC must also accept at least two challenges from unions competing in the Heartland Championship, including the winner of the Meads Cup at the end of the previous season. These non-mandatory challenge matches must be played before the start of the NPC season.^[2]

Source: Bunnings NPC standings 2022^[5]

Odds
Team	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9
Bay of Plenty	2 (5th)	7 (3rd)	11 (4th)	12 (4th)	17 (4th)	22 (4th)	27 (3rd)	32 (2nd)	34 (3rd)
Counties Manukau	4 (2nd)	6 (5th)	6 (5th)	10 (5th)	10 (6th)	15 (6th)	17 (6th)	19 (6th)	20 (6th)
Hawke's Bay	3 (3rd)	9 (2nd)	14 (2nd)	18 (1st)	19 (2nd)	24 (2nd)	25 (4th)	26 (5th)	31 (4th)
Otago	1 (6th)	9 (1st)	14 (1st)	14 (3rd)	15 (5th)	17 (5th)	21 (5th)	26 (4th)	27 (5th)
Southland	1 (7th)	2 (7th)	4 (7th)	4 (7th)	4 (7th)	4 (7th)	4 (7th)	9 (7th)	9 (7th)
Waikato	3 (4th)	7 (4th)	12 (3rd)	17 (2nd)	21 (1st)	30 (1st)	31 (1st)	31 (3rd)	36 (2nd)
Wellington	5 (1st)	5 (6th)	5 (6th)	10 (6th)	19 (3rd)	24 (3rd)	28 (2nd)	33 (1st)	38 (1st)
Evens
Team	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9
Auckland	10 (1st)	14 (1st)	15 (1st)	20 (2nd)	21 (2nd)	21 (2nd)	25 (2nd)	25 (3rd)	30 (3rd)
Canterbury	5 (2nd)	10 (2nd)	11 (2nd)	21 (1st)	26 (1st)	31 (1st)	36 (1st)	41 (1st)	46 (1st)
Manawatu	0 (7th)	0 (7th)	0 (7th)	0 (7th)	1 (7th)	2 (7th)	3 (7th)	4 (7th)	5 (7th)
North Harbour	1 (6th)	6 (3rd)	10 (3rd)	11 (4th)	16 (4th)	17 (4th)	22 (3rd)	27 (2nd)	32 (2nd)
Northland	4 (4th)	5 (5th)	9 (4th)	14 (3rd)	18 (3rd)	18 (3rd)	18 (5th)	22 (5th)	27 (4th)
Taranaki	1 (5th)	1 (6th)	5 (6th)	6 (6th)	6 (6th)	6 (6th)	15 (6th)	15 (6th)	15 (6th)
Tasman	4 (3rd)	5 (4th)	6 (5th)	6 (5th)	12 (5th)	17 (5th)	19 (4th)	24 (4th)	24 (5th)
The table above shows a team's progression throughout the season. For each week, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall conference log position in brackets.
Key:	Win	Draw	Loss	Bye

The regular season of the 2022 Bunnings NPC consists of 10 games that will be played over a period of nine weeks and include one mid-week game. The competition starts on Friday 5 August 2022, when Manawatū hosts Canterbury in Palmerston North.^[3]

	Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Final
	Wellington	28
	Hawke's Bay	21
		Wellington	54
			Auckland	19
	North Harbour	18
	Auckland	21
		Wellington	26
			Canterbury	18
	Waikato	27
	Bay of Plenty	34
		Bay of Plenty	10
			Canterbury	24
	Canterbury	23
	Northland	16

FB 15 Chay Fihaki RW 14 Manasa Mataele  40' OC 13 Dallas McLeod  66' IC 12 Rameka Poihipi LW 11 George Bridge FH 10 Fergus Burke SH 9 Willi Heinz  55' N8 8 Billy Harmon (c) OF 7 Tom Christie BF 6 Corey Kellow  50' RL 5 Zach Gallagher LL 4 Dominic Gardiner  50' TP 3 Owen Franks  41' HK 2 Brodie McAlister  35'  41' LP 1 Finlay Brewis  53' Replacements: HK 16 George Bell  35'  41' PR 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown  53' PR 18 Tamaiti Williams  41' LK 19 Luke Romano  50' FL 20 Reed Prinsep  50' SH 21 Mitchell Drummond  55' CE 22 Isaiah Punivai  66' WG 23 Ngane Punivai  40'

FB 15 Ruben Love RW 14 Julian Savea  78' OC 13 Billy Proctor IC 12 Riley Higgins LW 11 Pepesana Patafilo  69' FH 10 Jackson Garden-Bachop  57' SH 9 TJ Perenara  66'  78' N8 8 Peter Lakai OF 7 Du'Plessis Kirifi (c) BF 6 Caleb Delany  61' RL 5 Dominic Bird  76' LL 4 James Blackwell TP 3 PJ Sheck  66' HK 2 Asafo Aumua  80' LP 1 Xavier Numia  76' Replacements: HK 16 James O'Reilly  80' PR 17 Siale Lauaki  66' PR 18 Tietie Tuimauga  76' LK 19 Taine Plumtree  76' FL 20 Keelan Whitman  61' SH 21 Richard Judd  77'  66' FH 22 Aidan Morgan  57' WG 23 Connor Garden-Bachop  69'

No.	Player	Team	Points	Average	Details
1	Fergus Burke	Canterbury	147	12.25	6 T, 30 C, 19 P, 0 D
2	Bryn Gatland	North Harbour	139	12.64	4 T, 34 C, 17 P, 0 D
3	Damian McKenzie	Waikato	125	11.36	3 T, 25 C, 20 P, 0 D
4	Riley Hohepa	Counties Manukau	99	9.90	1 T, 23 C, 15 P, 1 D
5	Lincoln McClutchie	Hawke's Bay	97	10.78	3 T, 26 C, 10 P, 0 D
6	Kaleb Trask	Bay of Plenty	93	10.33	0 T, 21 C, 17 P, 0 D
7	Jackson Garden-Bachop	Wellington	92	8.36	1 T, 24 C, 12 P, 1 D
8	Harry Plummer	Auckland	86	7.82	1 T, 21 C, 13 P, 0 D
9	Cam Millar	Otago	75	8.33	0 T, 21 C, 11 P, 0 D
10	Rivez Reihana	Northland	72	6.55	1 T, 17 C, 11 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	Tevita Li	North Harbour	13	1.30
2	Macca Springer	Tasman	8	0.89
3	Emoni Narawa	Bay of Plenty	8	0.80
4	Brodie McAlister	Canterbury	7	0.88
5	Noah Hotham	Tasman	7	0.70
6	Naitoa Ah Kuoi	Bay of Plenty	7	0.64
7	Daniel Sinkinson	Waikato	7	0.64
8	Tyrone Thompson	Hawke's Bay	7	0.64
9	Asafo Aumua	Wellington	7	0.54
10	Kini Naholo	Taranaki	6	1.20

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	10	Total	Average
Auckland	36	26	45	18	24	23	17	21	35	17	22	23	15	30	30	27	20	38	38	24	282	247	28.20	24.70
Bay of Plenty	35	37	46	6	21	17	13	18	33	27	48	34	54	21	20	14	21	23	34	35	325	232	32.50	23.20
Canterbury	62	15	43	10	10	16	52	20	35	22	32	28	46	17	44	39	38	20	27	21	389	208	38.90	20.80
Counties Manukau	23	22	32	33	20	34	18	13	12	37	41	33	39	44	14	25	26	30	31	64	256	335	25.60	33.50
Hawke's Bay	32	32	33	32	13	18	43	17	25	23	28	32	69	24	12	19	14	20	25	17	294	234	29.40	23.40
Manawatu	15	62	18	45	14	64	17	43	6	53	26	36	33	41	24	34	35	54	24	41	212	473	21.20	47.30
North Harbour	26	36	64	14	35	27	23	25	22	35	37	12	34	48	48	21	35	19	66	8	390	245	39.00	24.50
Northland	13	11	10	16	15	6	32	19	23	22	17	46	21	48	17	52	23	21	41	24	212	265	21.20	26.50
Otago	22	23	25	19	18	13	37	32	17	35	27	33	26	32	27	20	54	35	21	27	274	269	27.40	26.90
Southland	20	27	23	24	32	37	19	32	28	41	24	69	24	54	21	54	30	26	8	66	229	430	22.90	43.00
Taranaki	11	13	6	46	16	10	25	31	6	21	27	36	34	24	25	14	19	35	24	38	193	270	19.30	27.00
Tasman	27	20	19	25	27	35	20	52	36	26	19	25	36	27	27	30	52	17	17	25	282	282	28.20	28.20
Waikato	32	32	16	10	34	20	53	6	21	6	30	15	54	24	20	27	6	34	35	34	301	208	30.10	20.80
Wellington	37	35	10	43	6	15	31	25	41	28	25	19	32	26	19	12	34	6	64	31	299	240	29.90	24.00

Source: Bunnings NPC Fixtures and Results 2022^[3]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Average
Auckland	5	4	6	2	3	2	2	2	5	3	3	3	2	3	3	4	3	5	5	3	37	31	3.70	3.10
Bay of Plenty	4	6	6	0	2	2	2	0	4	3	6	4	8	3	3	2	2	3	5	5	42	28	4.20	2.80
Canterbury	9	2	6	1	2	1	7	3	4	3	4	3	6	2	6	5	5	3	4	3	53	26	5.30	2.60
Counties Manukau	2	3	4	5	2	4	0	2	2	5	6	5	5	6	2	3	4	4	5	10	32	47	3.20	4.70
Hawke's Bay	4	4	5	4	1	2	6	2	3	3	3	4	10	3	0	1	2	3	4	2	38	28	3.80	2.80
Manawatu	2	9	2	6	2	9	2	6	0	8	4	5	5	6	4	4	5	8	4	6	30	67	3.00	6.70
North Harbour	4	5	9	2	2	4	3	3	3	4	5	2	4	6	6	3	5	3	10	1	51	33	5.10	3.30
Northland	1	1	1	1	2	0	4	3	3	3	2	6	3	6	2	7	3	2	6	4	27	33	2.70	3.30
Otago	3	2	2	2	2	1	4	4	3	5	3	4	4	4	3	2	8	5	3	4	35	33	3.50	3.30
Southland	2	3	2	3	4	4	3	4	3	6	3	10	3	8	3	8	4	4	1	10	28	60	2.80	6.00
Taranaki	1	1	0	6	1	2	3	5	0	2	3	5	4	4	3	2	3	5	3	5	21	37	2.10	3.70
Tasman	3	2	2	2	4	2	3	7	5	4	1	3	5	3	4	3	7	2	2	4	36	32	3.60	3.20
Waikato	4	4	1	1	4	2	8	0	2	0	3	2	8	3	2	3	0	4	5	5	37	24	3.70	2.40
Wellington	6	4	1	6	0	2	5	3	6	3	3	1	4	4	1	0	4	0	10	5	40	28	4.00	2.80

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)
Daniel Hawkins	Northland	1	0	vs Southland
Niko Jones	Auckland	1	0	vs Canterbury
Hayden Michaels	Southland	1	0	vs Counties Manukau
Shaun Stevenson	North Harbour	0	2	vs Manawatu and Hawke's Bay
Connor Vest	Auckland	0	2	vs North Harbour and Otago
Harry Plummer	Auckland	0	2	vs Bay of Plenty and Tasman
TJ Perenara	Wellington	0	2	vs Canterbury and Hawke's Bay
Richard Judd	Wellington	0	2	vs Otago and Canterbury
Luke Jacobson	Waikato	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Nic Mayhew	North Harbour	0	1	vs Auckland
Hemopo Cunningham	Taranaki	0	1	vs Northland
Kegan Christian-Goss	Manawatu	0	1	vs Auckland
Sam Tuifua	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Ray Nu'u	Otago	0	1	vs Tasman
Josh Bekhuis	Southland	0	1	vs Auckland
Josh Hill	Otago	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Sevu Reece	Tasman	0	1	vs North Harbour
Tom Parsons	Hawke's Bay	0	1	vs Manawatu
Micaiah Torrance-Read	Manawatu	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Jordan Trainor	Auckland	0	1	vs Otago
Zane Kapeli	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Counties Manukau
Asafo Aumua	Wellington	0	1	vs Taranaki
Isaac Salmon	Tasman	0	1	vs Manawatu
Coree Te Whata-Colley	Northland	0	1	vs Auckland
Billy Proctor	Wellington	0	1	vs Southland
Solomone Funaki	Hawke's Bay	0	1	vs Canterbury
Rameka Poihipi	Canterbury	0	1	vs Hawke's Bay
Lotu Inisi	North Harbour	0	1	vs Counties Manukau
Ahsee Tuala	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs North Harbour
Cortez Ratima	Waikato	0	1	vs Auckland
Cameron Suafoa	North Harbour	0	1	vs Bay of Plenty
Nikora Broughton	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs North Harbour
Taylor Haugh	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs North Harbour
Sam Slade	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs Manawatu
Adam Brash	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs Manawatu
Sam Gilbert	Otago	0	1	vs Wellington
Dominic Bird	Wellington	0	1	vs Otago
Matt Matich	Northland	0	1	vs Canterbury
Mitch Jacobson	Waikato	0	1	vs Southland
Viliami Fine	Southland	0	1	vs Waikato
Max Hicks	Tasman	0	1	vs Auckland
Joe Apikotoa	Hawke's Bay	0	1	vs Wellington
Aidan Ross	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Southland
Naitoa Ah Kuoi	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Southland
Blake Gibson	Auckland	0	1	vs Canterbury
Taufa Funaki	Auckland	0	1	vs Canterbury
Heremaia Murray	Northland	0	1	vs Tasman
Pita Anae Ah-Sue	Waikato	0	1	vs Wellington
Robbie Robinson	Southland	0	1	vs North Harbour
Siaosi Nginingini	North Harbour	0	1	vs Southland
Alex McRobbie	Counties Manukau	0	1	vs Wellington
Haereiti Hetet	Bay of Plenty	0	1	vs Waikato
Tomas Aoake	Auckland	0	1	vs North Harbour
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck	Auckland	0	1	vs North Harbour
Tyrone Thompson	Hawke's Bay	0	1	vs Wellington
Blake Hohaia	Northland	0	1	vs Canterbury

• Official website