Media Information
Information about the Heartland Championship, Match Information and Competition Regulations.
Team Naming
Heartland Unions are required to announce their playing 23 publicly, 48 hours prior to kick off. Teams will generally be available from the unions’ websites, unions’ media and social media channels.
Teams are subject to change and the Heartland Union should be contacted in the first instance for the current team. Please contact the unions directly if you want to be added to their distribution lists of have any questions about their teams.
Match Officials
If you would like access to this information, please email NZR Communications Manager - Domestic Raewyn Lambert-Jones.
Judicial Hearings
New Zealand Rugby's Domestic Competitions Manager will coordinate all judicial matters relating to the Heartland Championship.
The NZR Disciplinary Rules for Disciplinary Hearings, which incorporate Work Rugby Regulation 17-20, will apply.
NZR Disciplinary Rules are available here: NZR-Disciplinary-Rules-with-effect-from-11-April-2025.pdf
World Rugby Regulations 17-20 are available here: Regulations | World Rugby
For all the latest judicial outcomes click here to find out more.
Semi-finals and final
The 12 Heartland Championship teams will play eight Round Robin matches each (four home and four away), over a period of eight weeks.
Following the completion of Round Robin, teams ranked 1-4 will compete for the Meads Cup (Semis and Finals), while teams ranked 5-8 will compete for the Lochore Cup (Semis and Finals).
Throughout the Finals, the higher-seeded team in any match will play at home. (i.e. 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 in the Meads Cup semi-finals; 5 v 8, and 6 v 7 in the Lochore Cup semi-finals).
Meads Cup and Lochore Cup finals matches will be played on the last weekend of the Heartland Championship competition.
Competition Regulations
Download New Zealand Rugby’s domestic competition regulations here.
Heartland Union media information
For media enquiries and squad information click on each Heartland Union below. Alternatively, please email Communications Manager - Domestic Raewyn Lambert-Jones who for union information or competition queries.