The 2010 ITM Cup season was the fifth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on July 29, when Taranaki hosted Northland. 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 first season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the competition, Canterbury was promoted along with the top seventh placed teams to the Premiership, the bottom seventh placed teams were 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 was a decider for the top and bottom seven placed unions that would respectively become a part of the Premiership and Championship divisions for the 2011 season. This would form 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 would be relegated to the Championship for the following year. The regular season consisted of two types of matches where each team played the other thirteen unions over the course of thirteen consecutive weeks. Furthermore teams played home and away, either hosting six games and travelling for seven or hosting seven and travelling for six. The finals format allowed the top four teams move on to the semi-finals. The top two winners, based on table points, received a home semi-final. In the first round of the finals, the semi-finals, the second placed winner hosted the third placed winner, and the first placed winner hosted the fourth placed winner. The final was hosted by the top remaining seed.

Standings Source: ITM Cup standings 2010 Overall Pos Team 1 RS – Canterbury 13 9 1 3 372 290 +82 6 1 45 2 Auckland 13 9 1 3 352 200 +152 5 2 45 3 Waikato 13 9 1 3 351 245 +106 5 1 44 4 Wellington 13 8 0 5 375 296 +79 6 4 42 5 Taranaki 13 9 0 4 347 306 +41 5 1 42 6 Bay of Plenty 13 7 0 6 341 303 +38 6 3 37 7 Southland 13 8 0 5 253 255 −2 2 0 34 8 Hawke's Bay 13 5 3 5 292 287 +5 4 3 33 9 Counties Manukau 13 6 0 7 296 313 −17 4 3 31 10 Northland 13 5 0 8 372 334 +38 5 4 29 11 North Harbour 13 4 0 9 359 461 −102 3 2 21 12 Tasman 13 4 0 9 229 340 −111 1 3 20 13 Manawatu 13 3 0 10 272 423 −151 3 3 18 14 Otago 13 2 0 11 223 381 −158 0 2 10

Standings progression OverallTeamW1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10W11W12W13 Auckland 5 (1st) 6 (5th) 10 (4th) 14 (3rd) 14 (6th) 18 (6th) 22 (4th) 27 (3rd) 28 (4th) 30 (5th) 35 (4th) 40 (3rd) 45 (2nd) Bay of Plenty 1 (9th) 6 (6th) 7 (9th) 7 (11th) 12 (8th) 12 (9th) 17 (9th) 21 (8th) 26 (7th) 30 (6th) 32 (7th) 37 (6th) 37 (6th) Canterbury 2 (7th) 7 (4th) 12 (2nd) 13 (6th) 18 (4th) 22 (1st) 26 (1st) 26 (4th) 31 (2nd) 36 (1st) 40 (1st) 45 (1st) 45 (1st) Counties Manukau 5 (2nd) 9 (1st) 10 (3rd) 15 (2nd) 15 (5th) 19 (4th) 19 (7th) 20 (9th) 25 (8th) 29 (7th) 29 (8th) 29 (8th) 31 (9th) Hawke's Bay 2 (8th) 2 (11th) 2 (12th) 3 (12th) 7 (12th) 8 (12th) 10 (11th) 11 (12th) 16 (11th) 19 (11th) 23 (9th) 28 (9th) 33 (8th) Manawatu 0 (12th) 2 (12th) 2 (13th) 2 (13th) 2 (13th) 7 (13th) 7 (14th) 7 (14th) 8 (14th) 12 (12th) 12 (13th) 13 (13th) 18 (13th) North Harbour 0 (14th) 4 (10th) 4 (10th) 8 (9th) 9 (10th) 9 (10th) 9 (12th) 13 (10th) 18 (10th) 19 (10th) 19 (11th) 19 (12th) 21 (11th) Northland 4 (5th) 5 (9th) 10 (7th) 10 (7th) 11 (9th) 16 (8th) 17 (8th) 21 (7th) 21 (9th) 22 (9th) 22 (10th) 24 (10th) 29 (10th) Otago 0 (13th) 1 (13th) 1 (14th) 1 (14th) 1 (14th) 5 (14th) 9 (13th) 10 (13th) 10 (13th) 10 (14th) 10 (14th) 10 (14th) 10 (14th) Southland 5 (3rd) 9 (2nd) 13 (1st) 17 (1st) 21 (1st) 21 (2nd) 26 (2nd) 30 (1st) 34 (1st) 34 (2nd) 34 (5th) 34 (7th) 34 (7th) Taranaki 1 (10th) 6 (7th) 10 (5th) 14 (4th) 18 (3rd) 18 (5th) 22 (3rd) 27 (2nd) 28 (3rd) 32 (3rd) 37 (2nd) 37 (5th) 42 (5th) Tasman 0 (11th) 0 (14th) 4 (11th) 8 (10th) 9 (11th) 9 (11th) 10 (10th) 11 (11th) 11 (12th) 11 (13th) 15 (12th) 20 (11th) 20 (12th) Waikato 4 (6th) 8 (3rd) 8 (8th) 8 (8th) 13 (7th) 18 (7th) 21 (6th) 22 (6th) 26 (6th) 31 (4th) 36 (3rd) 40 (2nd) 44 (3rd) Wellington 4 (4th) 5 (8th) 10 (6th) 14 (5th) 19 (2nd) 20 (3rd) 21 (5th) 25 (5th) 27 (5th) 28 (8th) 33 (6th) 38 (4th) 42 (4th) The table above shows a team's progression throughout the season.For each week, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.Key: win draw loss bye

Regular season The 2010 ITM Cup was played across 13 weeks, with every team playing one another during Thursday to Sunday night fixtures. The competition started on Thursday, 29 July, with Taranaki taking on Northland at Yarrow Stadium.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Final

FB 15Sean Maitland RW 14Tumatauenga Umaga-MarshallOC 13Robbie FrueanIC 12Ryan CrottyLW 11Telusa Veainu FH 10Colin Slade SH 9Willi HeinzN8 8Nasi Manu OF 7Matt ToddBF 6George Whitelock (c)RL 5Isaac RossLL 4Luke Romano TP 3Peter Borlase HK 2Steve Fualau LP 1Wyatt CrockettReplacements:HK 16Paul Ngauamo PR 17Andrew Olorenshaw FL 18Ash Parker FL 19Brendon O'Connor SH 20Takerei Norton FH 21Stephen Brett FB 22Sam Monaghan FB 15Sosene AnesiRW 14Henry Speight OC 13Savenaca Tokula IC 12Jackson Willison LW 11Dwayne SweeneyFH 10Trent RenataSH 9Tawera Kerr-Barlow N8 8Alex Bradley OF 7Jack LamBF 6Dominiko WaqaniburotuRL 5Romana Graham LL 4Toby LynnTP 3Nathan White (c)HK 2Aled de Malmanche LP 1Toby Smith Replacements:HK 16Hikairo Forbes PR 17Ben May LK 18Kent Fife FL 19Zak Hohneck SH 20Brendon Leonard FH 21Christian Lealiifano WG 22Tim Mikkelson

Statistics Leading point scorers No. Player Team Points Average Details 1 Lachie Munro Northland 172 13.23 6 , 32 , 26 , 0 2 Colin Slade Canterbury 152 12.67 2 , 29 , 28 , 0 3 Mike Harris North Harbour 131 10.08 2 , 23 , 25 , 0 4 Trent Renata Waikato 116 8.29 1 , 15 , 27 , 0 5 Robbie Robinson Southland 114 8.77 0 , 24 , 21 , 1 6 Matt Berquist Auckland 109 7.79 1 , 10 , 28 , 0 7 Willie Ripia Taranaki 102 7.85 0 , 21 , 20 , 0 8 Glenn Dickson Otago 99 7.62 1 , 14 , 21 , 1 9 Stephen Donald Waikato 91 18.20 5 , 15 , 12 , 0 10 Gareth Anscombe Auckland 90 11.25 4 , 17 , 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 Lelia Masaga Bay of Plenty 10 0.83 2 Robbie Fruean Canterbury 10 0.71 3 Ahsee Tuala Counties Manukau 9 0.69 4 Mat Luamanu North Harbour 9 0.64 5 Telusa Veainu Canterbury 9 0.60 6 Julian Savea Wellington 8 0.67 7 Dean Budd Northland 7 0.54 8 Jared Payne Northland 7 0.54 9 Sean Maitland Canterbury 7 0.47 10 Taniela Moa Bay of Plenty 6 0.50 Source: The weekly reviews of the matches published on provincial.rugby (see "Report" in the individual match scoring stats).

Points by week Team12345678910111213TotalAverageAuckland36141821116261316352713211532669343437133911491035220027.1015.40Bay of Plenty 10 13 30 11 6 11 15 24 39 29 9 28 41 13 24 21 40 30 31 24 39 41 33 22 24 36 341 303 26.20 23.30Canterbury 23 23 27 26 44 22 25 27 35 16 28 9 27 23 20 31 37 30 35 20 26 16 39 21 6 26 372 290 28.60 22.30Counties Manukau 29 13 31 25 9 13 35 14 3 39 23 3 19 28 21 24 40 24 24 23 13 37 21 39 28 31 296 313 22.80 24.10Hawke's Bay 23 23 11 30 7 21 20 23 17 9 16 17 27 27 13 17 32 24 34 34 25 13 36 21 31 28 292 287 22.50 22.10Manawatu 23 37 26 27 8 77 14 35 9 17 36 24 13 41 6 32 30 44 20 8 16 30 25 27 46 24 272 423 20.90 32.50North Harbour 14 36 25 24 22 44 35 23 29 39 27 36 21 47 28 21 44 30 23 24 23 52 21 36 47 49 359 461 27.60 35.50Northland 26 19 24 25 77 8 13 26 28 31 33 22 23 27 13 8 24 40 33 45 13 25 29 34 36 24 372 334 28.60 25.70Otago 13 29 12 16 22 35 23 35 15 25 17 16 13 11 8 13 30 40 20 35 15 41 11 39 24 46 223 381 17.20 29.30Southland 37 23 16 12 13 9 23 20 21 16 22 33 47 21 7 6 9 6 6 23 16 26 22 33 14 27 253 255 19.50 19.60Taranaki 19 26 33 11 33 23 24 15 25 15 13 27 28 19 31 20 24 32 23 6 30 16 15 49 49 47 347 306 26.70 23.50Tasman 11 20 11 33 21 7 27 25 16 21 3 23 11 13 21 28 15 33 8 20 41 39 34 29 10 49 229 340 17.60 26.20Waikato 13 10 21 18 23 33 14 26 39 3 36 27 27 27 6 7 33 15 45 33 41 15 27 25 26 6 351 245 27.00 18.80Wellington 2011 2531 3522 2614 3128 2436 1521 1713 3037 2431 5223 4915 2714 375296 28.8022.80 Source: ITM Cup Fixtures and Results 2010

Tries by week width=16% Team12345678910111213TotalAverageAuckland4122102114212040003451516137162.801.20Bay of Plenty1151012364036132533263533545323.502.50Canterbury2144733341303225444221530243313.302.40Counties Manukau4133015205201323533315354433382.502.90Hawke's Bay1215133210122413444331524431352.402.70Manawatu25441102501441604452114336330552.304.20North Harbour1413372246343732543327256638602.904.60Northland31311011235432311355513455345383.502.90Otago1401342223211111352425153623421.803.20Southland5210102301347310000212352326252.001.90Taranaki1351323232123152442041276642333.202.50Tasman1315313310021123231236541624391.803.00Waikato1122231350434201325552332037272.802.10Wellington3133433153440231442372723248313.702.40 ForAgainst

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

Ranfurly Shield

Pre-season challenges

See also 2010 Heartland Championship

References

External links