2013 Heartland Championship

2013 Heartland Championship

Date	24 August 2013 (2013-08-24)–27 October 2013 (2013-10-27)
Countries	New Zealand
Final positions
Champions	Template:Rut Mid Canterbury
Runner-up	Template:Rut South Canterbury
← 2012 2014 →

The 2013 Heartland Championship, the eighth edition of the Heartland Championship since the 2006 reconstruction, was a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur rugby unions in New Zealand. The tournament involved a round-robin stage in which the twelve teams played eight games each and then the top four advanced to the Meads Cup semifinals, while fifth to eighth advanced to the Lochore Cup semifinals. In both of these knockout stages the top seeds (first and fifth) played at home against the lowest seeds (fourth and eighth), the second highest seeds (second and sixth) played at home against the third highest seeds (third and seventh) and the final had the higher seed play at home against the lower seed.

Teams

Buller

East Coast

Horowhenua-Kapiti

King Country

Mid Canterbury

North Otago

Poverty Bay

South Canterbury

Thames Valley

Wairarapa Bush

Wanganui

West Coast

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Locations of teams in the 2014 Heartland Championship

The 2013 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams.

	Team	Super Rugby partner	Hometown	Home stadium	Capacity
	Buller	Template:Rut Crusaders	Westport	Victoria Square	5,000
	East Coast	Template:Rut Hurricanes	Ruatoria	Whakarua Park	3,000
	Horowhenua-Kapiti	Template:Rut Hurricanes	Levin	Levin Domain	6,500
	King Country	Template:Rut Chiefs	Taupo	Owen Delany Park	20,000
	Mid Canterbury	Template:Rut Crusaders	Ashburton	Ashburton Showgrounds	5,000
	North Otago	Template:Rut Highlanders	Oamaru	Whitestone Contracting Stadium	7,000
	Poverty Bay	Template:Rut Hurricanes	Gisborne	More FM Rugby Park	18,000
	South Canterbury	Template:Rut Crusaders	Timaru	Alpine Energy Stadium	12,000
	Thames Valley	Template:Rut Chiefs	Paeroa	Paeroa Domain	3,000
	Wairarapa Bush	Template:Rut Hurricanes	Masterton	Trust House Memorial Park	10,000
	Wanganui	Template:Rut Hurricanes	Wanganui	Cooks Gardens	15,000
	West Coast	Template:Rut Crusaders	Greymouth	Rugby Park	6,000

Pre-season

Two Heartland Championship teams, Template:Rut Horowhenua-Kapiti and Template:Rut East Coast, challenged Template:Rut Waikato for the Ranfurly Shield in two matches that took place in at Whakarua Park, Ruatoria and Campbell Park, Morrinsville.

	18 July 2013	Template:Rut Waikato	85 – 0	Template:Rut Horowhenua-Kapiti	Campbell Park, Morrinsville
	18:00 (NZST)		[1]

	30 July 2013	Template:Rut East Coast	10 – 65	Template:Rut Waikato	Whakarua Park, Ruatoria
	18:00 (NZST)		[2]

Standings

Position	Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points for	Points against	Points difference	Try bonus (4 or more tries)	Losing bonus (margin of 7 points or less)	Points
1	Mid Canterbury	8	7	0	1	232	131	101	4	1	33
2	North Otago	8	6	0	2	216	159	57	3	2	29
3	Wairarapa Bush	8	6	0	2	203	144	59	3	1	28
4	West Coast	8	6	0	2	190	173	17	4	0	28
5	South Canterbury	8	4	0	4	246	202	44	3	4	23
6	Wanganui	8	4	0	4	171	160	11	2	3	21
7	Buller	8	4	0	4	147	149	-2	2	2	20
8	Thames Valley	8	4	0	4	153	200	-37	0	1	17
9	King Country	8	3	0	5	163	211	-48	1	2	15
10	East Coast	8	2	0	6	173	225	-52	3	2	13
11	Horowhenua-Kapiti	8	1	0	7	141	182	-41	0	6	10
12	Poverty Bay	8	1	0	7	141	240	-99	0	2	6

	Meads Cup and Heartland Championship
	Lochore Cup qualification

In the case of a two-team tie on points the ranking of teams is decided by:

• (1) the winner of the round robin match between the two provinces; then
• (2) highest point difference; then
• (3) most tries scored; then
• (4) a coin toss.

In the case of a three-team or more tie on points the ranking of teams is decided by:

• (1) the province with the most wins against other tied provinces in the Round Robin; then
• (2) if two teams remain tied they shall be ranked according to the criteria listed above, but if more than two teams remain tied, they shall be ranked according to criteria (2) to (4) only.

See also

• 2013 ITM Cup
• Heartland Championship