2015 ITM Cup explained

2015 ITM Cup season
Countries:	New Zealand
Date:	13 August – 24 October
Champions:	Canterbury
Runnersup:	Auckland
Promoted:	Hawke's Bay
Relegated:	Manawatu
Matches:	76
Tries:	498
Top Point Scorer:	Tom Taylor (Canterbury) 144 points
Top Try Scorer:	George Moala (Auckland) 10 tries
Website:	https://www.provincial.rugby/
Prevseason:	2014
Nextseason:	2016

The 2015 ITM Cup season was the tenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 13, when Southland hosted Auckland. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the ITM Cup and it was the sixth season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship, Hawke's Bay was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team, Manawatu was relegated to the Championship.

Format

The ITM 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. Bonus points were also awarded to teams who scored at least four tries in a match, or lost by seven points or fewer.^[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 deferential 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]

Standings

Source: ITM Cup standings 2015^[5]

Premiership Division
	Team
1	Canterbury	10	9	0	1	307	177	+130	6	1	43
2	Auckland	10	7	1	2	339	232	+107	5	2	37
3	Tasman	10	7	0	3	331	236	+95	7	0	35
4	Taranaki	10	6	0	4	290	175	+115	5	3	32

5	Counties Manukau	10	4	0	6	248	262	–14	5	2	23
6	RS – Waikato	10	4	0	6	225	281	–56	3	2	21

7	Manawatu	10	3	0	7	248	367	–119	5	2	19

Championship Division
	Team
1	Hawke's Bay	10	7	1	2	302	219	+83	6	1	37
2	Wellington	10	6	1	3	304	178	+126	6	2	34
3	Otago	10	6	0	4	360	314	+46	7	1	32
4	Bay of Plenty	10	4	0	6	212	258	–46	2	1	19

5	North Harbour	10	3	0	7	212	294	–82	3	2	17
6	Southland	10	2	1	7	217	325	–108	1	3	14
7	Northland	10	0	0	10	143	420	–277	1	0	1

Standings progression

Premiership
Team	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9
Auckland	style="background:#97DEFF"	2 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	7 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	8 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	13 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	23 (3rd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	27 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	28 (3rd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	33 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	37 (2nd)
Canterbury	style="background:#D8FFEB"	5 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	9 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	14 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	19 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	24 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	28 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	33 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	38 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	43 (1st)
Counties Manukau	style="background:#D8FFEB"	5 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	6 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	6 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	8 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	8 (7th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	13 (6th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	18 (5th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	23 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	23 (5th)
Manawatu	style="background:#FFCCCC"	2 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	3 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	3 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	3 (7th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	9 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	9 (7th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	14 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	14 (7th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	19 (7th)
Taranaki	style="background:#FFCCCC"	1 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	2 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	4 (6th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	13 (3rd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	18 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	23 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	27 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	32 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	32 (4th)
Tasman	style="background:#D8FFEB"	5 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	10 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	15 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	20 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	25 (1st)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	30 (1st)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	30 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	30 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	35 (3rd)
Waikato	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	4 (5th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	9 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	10 (5th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	14 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	14 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	16 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	16 (6th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	21 (6th)
Championship
Team	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9
Bay of Plenty	style="background:#D8FFEB"	4 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	4 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	8 (3rd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	13 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	13 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	14 (3rd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	19 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	19 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	19 (4th)
Hawke's Bay	style="background:#D8FFEB"	5 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	10 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	15 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	20 (1st)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	20 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	24 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	28 (1st)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	35 (1st)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	37 (1st)
North Harbour	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	4 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	5 (6th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	9 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	10 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	10 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	12 (6th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	17 (5th)
Northland	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	1 (7th)
Otago	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	0 (5th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	5 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	5 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	7 (6th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	12 (5th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	17 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	22 (3rd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	32 (3rd)
Southland	style="background:#97DEFF"	2 (4th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	6 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	7 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	7 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	8 (5th)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	13 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	13 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	14 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	14 (6th)
Wellington	style="background:#D8FFEB"	4 (3rd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	9 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	14 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	19 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	19 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	21 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	25 (2nd)	style="background:#D8FFEB"	32 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC"	34 (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

Regular season

The 2015 ITM Cup was 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 13, with Southland taking on Auckland at Rugby Park Stadium. The last matchup of the beginning week saw Hawke's Bay host Northland for the competitions first Ranfurly Shield defense.^[6]

Week 9

Play-offs

Championship

Premiership

Semi-finals

Premiership

Finals

Premiership


FB	15	Tom Taylor
RW	14	Johnny McNicholl
OC	13
IC	12	Rob Thompson
LW	11	Patrick Osborne
FH	10	Richie Mo'unga
SH	9	Mitchell Drummond
N8	8	Luke Whitelock (c)
OF	7	Matt Todd
BF	6
RL	5	Dominic Bird
LL	4
TP	3
HK	2	Ben Funnell
LP	1
Replacements:
HK	16	Ged Robinson
PR	17
PR	18
LK	19
FL	20
SH	21	Jack Stratton
FH	22	Cameron McIntyre
WG	23	Marshall Suckling


FB	15	Charles Piutau
RW	14	Bryce Heem
OC	13
IC	12	George Moala
LW	11	Ben Lam
FH	10	Simon Hickey (c)
SH	9
N8	8	Akira Ioane
OF	7	Mitchell Karpik
BF	6	Joe Edwards
RL	5
LL	4	Michael Fatialofa
TP	3	Ofa Tu'ungafasi
HK	2
LP	1	Isileli Tu'ungafasi
Replacements:
HK	16
PR	17	Tom McHugh
PR	18	Jono Owen
LK	19
N8	20	Matthew Matich
SH	21
FH	22	Mitchell Hunt
FB	23

Statistics

Leading point scorers

No.	Player	Team	Points	Average	Details
1			144	12.00	1, 29, 27, 0
2			134	11.17	3, 28, 21, 0
3			124	12.40	2, 24, 22, 0
4			120	10.91	1, 26, 21, 0
5			115	11.50	3, 20, 19, 1
6			97	8.82	2, 27, 11, 0
7			84	8.40	2, 19, 11, 1
8			77	8.56	0, 13, 17, 0
9			76	7.60	0, 32, 4, 0
10			69	11.50	1, 14, 12, 0

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

Leading try scorers

No.	Player	Team	Tries	Average
1			10	0.83
2			10	0.83
3			7	0.64
4			7	0.78
5			6	0.60
6			6	0.60
7			6	0.67
8			6	0.55
9			6	0.60
10			6	0.55

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

Points by week

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Average
Auckland	23	23	30	24	21	27	50	28	80	57	28	19	12	17	64	21	31	16	339	232	33.90	23.20
Bay of Plenty	20	11	13	34	36	53	37	26	9	32	17	23	37	5	13	31	30	43	212	258	21.20	25.80
Canterbury	38	24	20	15	27	21	57	7	29	14	17	10	39	41	41	25	39	20	307	177	30.70	17.70
Counties Manukau	36	35	15	20	11	35	36	54	20	28	42	17	42	33	30	9	16	31	248	262	24.80	26.20
Hawke's Bay	39	10	39	22	35	11	48	32	14	29	23	17	17	12	57	50	30	36	302	219	30.20	21.90
Manawatu	35	36	21	28	21	41	7	57	70	62	14	49	31	17	10	44	39	33	248	367	24.80	36.70
North Harbour	11	20	0	43	26	25	32	48	28	20	30	56	17	31	32	39	36	12	212	294	21.20	29.40
Northland	10	39	18	27	0	29	7	50	17	42	17	42	5	37	21	64	48	90	143	420	14.30	42.00
Otago	24	38	22	39	34	27	17	34	29	35	37	36	61	7	39	32	97	66	360	314	36.00	31.40
Southland	23	23	27	18	35	52	3	53	25	30	49	14	7	61	28	35	20	39	217	325	21.70	32.50
Taranaki	14	19	24	30	27	34	67	17	32	9	41	0	24	21	44	10	17	35	290	175	29.00	17.50
Tasman	35	20	34	13	41	21	34	17	36	17	58	48	33	42	25	41	35	17	331	236	33.10	23.60
Waikato	20	35	28	21	43	10	28	50	30	25	0	41	31	39	9	30	36	30	225	281	22.50	28.10
Wellington	19	14	43	0	29	0	53	3	17	36	36	37	21	14	53	35	33	39	304	178	30.40	17.80

Source: ITM Cup Fixtures and Results 2015^[7]

Tries by week

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Average
Auckland	2	2	4	2	2	4	7	4	9	8	3	1	0	2	10	3	3	2	40	28	4.00	2.80
Bay of Plenty	3	1	1	4	3	7	5	4	0	4	2	3	4	1	1	5	3	6	22	35	2.20	3.50
Canterbury	4	3	1	2	4	2	9	1	4	2	2	1	4	5	5	3	5	2	38	21	3.80	2.10
Counties Manukau	5	5	2	1	1	4	5	7	2	3	5	1	5	3	4	0	2	3	31	27	3.10	2.70
Hawke's Bay	6	1	6	3	4	1	6	5	2	4	3	2	2	0	7	6	4	5	40	27	4.00	2.70
Manawatu	5	5	3	3	3	4	1	9	10	7	2	6	4	2	1	5	5	5	34	46	3.40	4.60
North Harbour	1	3	0	6	2	3	5	6	3	2	3	8	2	4	4	4	5	2	25	38	2.50	3.80
Northland	1	6	2	3	0	4	1	7	2	6	1	5	1	4	3	10	8	13	19	58	1.90	5.80
Otago	3	4	3	6	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	8	1	4	4	14	9	47	40	4.70	4.00
Southland	2	2	3	2	4	4	0	8	3	3	6	2	1	8	3	4	2	5	24	38	2.40	3.80
Taranaki	1	3	2	4	4	4	9	2	4	0	5	0	3	2	5	1	2	4	35	20	3.50	2.00
Tasman	4	1	4	1	4	3	4	3	4	3	7	5	3	5	3	5	4	2	37	28	3.70	2.80
Waikato	1	4	3	3	6	1	4	7	3	3	0	5	3	4	0	4	5	4	25	35	2.50	3.50
Wellington	3	1	6	0	4	0	8	0	3	4	4	4	2	1	8	4	5	5	43	19	4.30	1.90

For	Against

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

Sanctions

Player	Red	Yellow	Sent off match(es)
Jamie Mackintosh	1	1	vs. Wellington and Otago
Matt Talaese	1	0	vs. Southland
Ardie Savea	0	2	vs. Southland and Otago
Ben Tameifuna	0	2	vs. Canterbury and Hawke's Bay
Johan Bardoul	0	2	vs. Counties Manukau and Otago
Marty Banks	0	1	vs. Waikato
Kurt Baker	0	1	vs. Wellington
Brad Shields	0	1	vs. Taranaki
Jayden Spence	0	1	vs. Canterbury
Nafi Tuitavake	0	1	vs. Wellington
Ross Geldenhuys	0	1	vs. Bay of Plenty
Hamiora Thomas	0	1	vs. Waikato
Jordan Payne	0	1	vs. Manawatu
Tawera Kerr-Barlow	0	1	vs. Manawatu
Pauliasi Manu	0	1	vs. Canterbury
Shane Christie	0	1	vs. Manawatu
Ben Funnell	0	1	vs. Auckland
Mitchell Graham	0	1	vs. Otago
Culum Retallick	0	1	vs. Waikato
Ma'ama Vaipulu	0	1	vs. Taranaki
Akira Ioane	0	1	vs. Waikato
Sam Vaka	0	1	vs. North Harbour
Chris Vui	0	1	vs. Counties Manukau
Mitchell Crosswell	0	1	vs. Bay of Plenty
Zak Hohneck	0	1	vs. Hawke's Bay
Josh Goodhue	0	1	vs. Counties Manukau
Sam Nock	0	1	vs. Counties Manukau
Trent Renata	0	1	vs. Auckland
Jono Hickey	0	1	vs. Tasman
Jono Kitto	0	1	vs. Northland
Joe Tupe	0	1	vs. Northland
David Havili	0	1	vs. Counties Manukau
Robbie Malneek	0	1	vs. Counties Manukau
Sam Henwood	0	1	vs. Tasman
Alex Woonton	0	1	vs. Manawatu
Jason Woodward	0	1	vs. Hawke's Bay
Chris Eaton	0	1	vs. Wellington
Peni Iowane	0	1	vs. Counties Manukau
Marshall Suckling	0	1	vs. Tasman
Heiden Bedwell-Curtis	0	1	vs. Taranaki
Jeffery Toomaga-Allen	0	1	vs. Bay of Plenty
Ben May	0	1	vs. Bay of Plenty
Fletcher Smith	0	1	vs. Northland
Zac Guildford	0	1	vs. Waikato
Johnny McNicholl	0	1	vs. Taranaki
Scott Scrafton	0	1	vs. Canterbury

Ranfurly Shield

Pre-season challenges

Hawke's Bay won the Ranfurly Shield when they defeated Counties Manuaku in August 2014, and subsequently made four successful defenses. Hawke's Bay announced their first three defenses against Wairarapa Bush, Horowhenua-Kapiti, and Meads Cup winners Mid Canterbury after receiving six Heartland Championship offers.^[8]

In the first challenge, Hawke's Bay were missing players due to Super Rugby and international duties but managed to score forty-one unanswered second-half points which saw them safely retain the shield, winning 58–7 at McLean Park. Prop Jarvy Aoake scored from close range to open the scoring with their second try coming from fullback Zac Guildford and Tyrone Elkington-MacDonald kicked every conversion and penalty. Wairarapa Bush flanker Brock Price was awarded a try after chasing a kick downfield. Shannan Chase, Billy Ropiha, and Brendon O'Connor also scored tries with Jonah Lowe completing the scoring, in the final minute.^[9]

Again Hawke's Bay was missing players plus their coach also. Horowhenua-Kapiti were within four points with 15 minutes to play in Napier for the second Ranfurly Shield challenge. They dominated the opening half with Perry Hayman kicking three-from-three penalty shots at goal. Hawke's Bay although was in control with a dominant scrum and tries to Joseph Penitito and American Tony Lamborn. Sam Gardner scored for Horowhenua-Kapiti which brought the game back to within four points. But captain Antony Fox was then sent to the sin bin for a cynical infringement during a Hawke's Bay drive on his own try line which caused three Hawke's Bay penalties and tries to Shannan Chase, Tom Stanley and Mark Braidwood.^[10]

Notes and References

News: Adjustment to Mitre 10 Heartland Championship bonus points system. Rugby Heartland. 2 September 2016.
Web site: New Zealand Rugby Union Competition Regulations Handbook 2016. New Zealand Rugby. 1 September 2017. 12 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190712231129/http://files.allblacks.com/legal_and_judicial/NZR_2016_Competitions_Regulations_Handbook.pdf. dead .
Web site: 2010 ITM Cup Competition Structures. Manawatu Rugby Union. 7 August 2010. dead. https://archive.today/20130223161744/http://www.manawaturugby.co.nz/article/1863.html. 23 February 2013. dmy-all .
Web site: ITM Cup Finals schedule. All Blacks. 24 October 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130116061427/http://itmcup.co.nz/itmCupnews/20886/ITM-Cup-Finals-schedule. 16 January 2013. dmy-all .
Web site: Historical Standings. New Zealand Rugby. 1 October 2022.
News: ITM Cup draw for 2015 confirmed. ITM Cup. 7 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20180425115242/http://www.mitre10cup.co.nz/News/27011/itm-cup-draw-for-2015-confirmed. 25 April 2018 .
Web site: Historical Fixtures and Results. New Zealand Rugby. 1 October 2022.
News: Magpies confirm first Ranfurly Shield opponents. ESPN. 12 November 2014.
News: Hawke's Bay see off Wairarapa-Bush to retain Ranfurly Shield. Stuff. 19 July 2015.
News: Horowhenua-Kapiti push Hawke's Bay all the way in Ranfurly Shield challenge. Stuff. 16 July 2015.