The 2013 ITM Cup season was the eighth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on 15 August, when Counties Manukau hosted Wellington. 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 fourth season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship, Tasman was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team, Bay of Plenty 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Standings Source: ITM Cup standings 2013

Premiership Division # Team 1 Wellington 10 9 0 1 330 178 +152 6 0 42 2 Canterbury 10 8 0 2 371 163 +208 7 1 40 3 Auckland 10 7 0 3 306 236 +70 7 1 36 4 RS – Counties Manukau 10 6 0 4 287 262 +25 3 1 28 5 Waikato 10 4 0 6 235 298 –63 2 3 21 6 Taranaki 10 3 0 7 137 242 –105 0 2 14 7 Bay of Plenty 10 1 0 9 206 298 –92 0 4 8

Championship Division # Team 1 Tasman 10 8 0 2 333 186 +147 4 0 36 2 Otago 10 6 0 4 304 305 –1 4 2 30 3 Hawke's Bay 10 6 0 4 272 204 +68 3 2 29 4 Southland 10 4 0 6 202 232 –30 2 2 20 5 Manawatu 10 4 0 6 189 340 –151 1 1 18 6 Northland 10 2 1 7 184 275 –91 1 2 13 7 North Harbour 10 1 1 8 193 330 –137 1 3 10

Standings progression Premiership Team W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 Auckland 5(3rd) 9(3rd) 14(3rd) 23(2nd) 24(3rd) 29(2nd) 34(2nd) 34(3rd) 36(3rd) Bay of Plenty 1(5th) 5(5th) 5(4th) 5(6th) 5(7th) 5(7th) 6(7th) 7(7th) 8(7th) Canterbury 5(2nd) 9(2nd) 14(2nd) 19(3rd) 24(2nd) 25(3rd) 30(3rd) 35(2nd) 40(2nd) Counties Manukau 0(7th) 5(6th) 5(5th) 10(4th) 15(4th) 20(4th) 24(4th) 24(4th) 28(4th) Taranaki 0(6th) 0(7th) 4(7th) 4(7th) 8(6th) 12(5th) 13(5th) 14(6th) 14(6th) Waikato 4(4th) 5(4th) 5(6th) 6(5th) 11(5th) 11(6th) 12(6th) 17(5th) 21(5th) Wellington 5(1st) 10(1st) 20(1st) 25(1st) 29(1st) 33(1st) 37(1st) 42(1st) 42(1st)Championship Team W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 Hawke's Bay 5(1st) 6(2nd) 10(1st) 11(2nd) 15(1st) 15(2nd) 20(2nd) 24(2nd) 29(3rd) Manawatu 0(7th) 1(6th) 1(7th) 5(7th) 9(4th) 10(5th) 14(5th) 18(5th) 18(5th) North Harbour 1(4th) 1(7th) 4(5th) 5(6th) 9(5th) 10(6th) 10(6th) 10(6th) 10(7th) Northland 0(5th) 4(4th) 7(4th) 7(4th) 8(6th) 8(7th) 8(7th) 9(7th) 13(6th) Otago 4(3rd) 8(1st) 9(3rd) 9(3rd) 9(3rd) 14(4th) 16(4th) 21(3rd) 30(2nd) Southland 0(6th) 1(5th) 2(6th) 6(5th) 6(7th) 15(3rd) 20(3rd) 20(4th) 20(4th) Tasman 4(2nd) 4(3rd) 9(2nd) 14(1st) 14(2nd) 18(1st) 22(1st) 31(1st) 36(1st)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 2013 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, 15 August, with Counties Manukau taking on Wellington at ECOLight Stadium.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Play-offs

Championship

Premiership

Semi-finals Championship

Premiership

Finals Championship

Premiership

FB 15Charlie NgataiRW 14Matt Proctor OC 13Tim Bateman IC 12Shaun TreebyLW 11Alapati LeiuaFH 10Lima SopoagaSH 9 Frae Wilson N8 8 Victor Vito (c)OF 7 Ardie Savea BF 6 Brad ShieldsRL 5 Apisai Naikatini LL 4 Mark Reddish TP 3 Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen HK 2 Motu Matu'uLP 1 John Schwalger Replacements:PR 16Reggie Goodes PR 17Eric Sione LK 18Genesis Mamea Lemalu FL 19Faifili Levave FL 20Adam Hill SH 21Tomasi Palu WG 22Ambrose Curtis FB 15Tom TaylorRW 14Patrick Osborne OC 13Adam WhitelockIC 12Ryan CrottyLW 11Johnny McNichollFH 10Tyler Bleyendaal SH 9 Andy Ellis N8 8 Nasi Manu OF 7 George Whitelock (c)BF 6 Luke WhitelockRL 5 Luke Katene LL 4 Joel EversonTP 3 Nepo LaulalaHK 2 Ben Funnell LP 1 Joe Moody Replacements:HK 16Marcel Cummings-Toone PR 17Paea Faʻanunu LK 18Dominic Bird N8 19Jordan Taufua SH 20Willi Heinz CE 21Rob Thompson FH 22Colin Slade

Statistics Leading point scorers No. Player Team Points Average Details 1 Marty Banks Tasman 170 21.25 5 , 29 , 29 , 0 2 Hayden Parker Otago 170 15.45 2 , 23 , 38 , 0 3 Ihaia West Hawke's Bay 169 15.36 5 , 24 , 32 , 0 4 Lima Sopoaga Wellington 149 12.42 2 , 35 , 23 , 0 5 Simon Hickey Auckland 127 12.70 3 , 20 , 24 , 0 6 Trent Renata Waikato 120 12.00 2 , 19 , 24 , 0 7 Willie Ripia Bay of Plenty 119 11.90 1 , 12 , 30 , 0 8 Tyler Bleyendaal Canterbury 117 11.70 3 , 21 , 20 , 0 9 Baden Kerr Counties Manukau 95 11.88 0 , 16 , 21 , 0 10 Scott Eade Southland 92 8.36 2 , 14 , 18 , 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 Milford Keresoma Canterbury 8 1.00 2 Telusa Veainu Hawke's Bay 7 0.58 3 James Lowe Tasman 6 0.55 4 Liam Squire Tasman 6 0.55 5 Lolagi Visinia Auckland 6 0.55 6 Zac Guildford Hawke's Bay 6 0.60 7 Ross Filipo Wellington 5 1.67 8 Marty Banks Tasman 5 0.63 9 Frank Halai Counties Manukau 5 0.56 10 George Moala Auckland 5 0.50 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 27 20 21 18 32 17 73 35 24 42 41 10 39 19 16 38 33 37 306 236 34.00 26.20 Bay of Plenty 29 32 24 20 17 32 18 48 16 33 28 54 30 31 25 28 19 20 206 298 22.90 33.10 Canterbury 30 6 28 13 47 10 48 18 32 22 19 25 91 46 38 23 38 0 371 163 41.20 18.10 Counties Manukau 16 55 44 14 20 40 47 46 44 7 37 25 31 30 23 38 25 7 287 262 31.90 29.10 Hawke's Bay45 1820 2420 1924 2741 499 1855 1023 1535 24272 20430.20 22.70 Manawatu18 4518 2115 4215 1227 1741 5219 7822 1614 57189 34021.00 37.70 North Harbour20 2714 4460 6812 1523 1231 3410 5523 370 38193 33024.10 36.70 Northland22 3113 933 3310 3026 3110 4113 2816 2241 50184 27520.40 30.60 Otago32 2926 1919 2016 4922 3252 4132 3837 2368 54304 30533.80 33.90 Southland15 259 1314 1520 1617 2767 5638 3215 237 25202 23222.40 25.80 Taranaki6 3010 2915 1415 5130 5421 36 1220 2714 22137 24215.20 26.90 Tasman25 1513 2840 2049 1612 2318 928 1391 4857 14333 18637.00 20.70 Waikato31 2219 2610 4716 2042 2425 3714 1956 8922 14235 29826.10 33.10 Wellington55 1629 1077 4230 1033 1625 1919 1438 1624 35330 17836.70 19.80 Source: ITM Cup Fixtures and Results 2013

Tries by week Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Average Auckland 4 2 2 2 4 1 7 4 4 6 6 1 5 3 1 4 4 3 37 26 4.10 2.90 Bay of Plenty2 22 21 42 61 31 53 33 13 318 292.00 3.20 Canterbury4 03 27 16 24 11 313 64 26 048 175.30 1.90 Counties Manukau1 85 12 45 36 14 33 32 43 131 283.40 3.10 Hawke's Bay7 22 22 22 34 40 27 12 24 330 213.30 2.30 Manawatu2 72 22 53 23 25 61 103 22 823 442.60 4.90 North Harbour2 41 57 82 32 03 51 72 40 620 422.50 4.70 Northland1 31 04 41 52 31 61 12 36 719 322.10 3.60 Otago2 22 12 21 61 46 54 54 27 729 343.20 3.80 Southland0 20 11 22 12 38 45 42 21 321 222.30 2.40 Taranaki0 41 42 12 63 72 00 02 22 314 271.60 3.00 Tasman2 02 34 26 10 22 01 110 68 235 173.90 1.90 Waikato3 11 21 71 26 43 41 35 113 224 362.70 4.00 Wellington8 14 19 55 13 13 13 14 13 442 164.70 1.80 For Against

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

Sanctions Player Team Red Yellow Sent off match(es) Alex Ainley Tasman 1 1 vs Hawke's Bay and Waikato Zak Judge North Harbour 1 0 vs Northland Adam Hill Wellington 1 0 vs Canterbury Ardie Savea Wellington 0 2 vs Canterbury and Waikato Zac Guildford Hawke's Bay 0 1 vs Bay of Plenty Tomasi Cama Manawatu 0 1 vs Auckland Eric Sione Wellington 0 1 vs North Harbour Rene Ranger Northland 0 1 vs North Harbour Sherwin Stowers Counties Manukau 0 1 vs Auckland Jordan Taufua Canterbury 0 1 vs Bay of Plenty Tayler Adams Southland 0 1 vs Waikato Kieran Moffat Otago 0 1 vs Tasman Liam Coltman Otago 0 1 vs Tasman Ryan Cocker Taranaki 0 1 vs Hawke's Bay Rory Grice Waikato 0 1 vs Auckland Daniel Hawkins Northland 0 1 vs Hawke's Bay Paul Alo-Emile Waikato 0 1 vs Counties Manukau Augustine Pulu Counties Manukau 0 1 vs Waikato Chris Eaton Hawke's Bay 0 1 vs Tasman Sione Faletau Canterbury 0 1 vs Manawatu Antonio Kiri Kiri Manawatu 0 1 vs Canterbury Malakai Fekitoa Auckland 0 1 vs Canterbury Melani Nanai Auckland 0 1 vs Wellington Tim Perry Tasman 0 1 vs Taranaki Bryce Williams Northland 0 1 vs Bay of Plenty Jarrad Hoeata Taranaki 0 1 vs Waikato Scott Manson Otago 0 1 vs Hawke's Bay

Ranfurly Shield

Pre-season challenges

See also 2013 Heartland Championship

References

External links