2024 Bunnings NPC

2024 Bunnings NPC season
Countries	New Zealand
Date	9 August – 26 October 2024
Matches played	30
Tries scored	229 (average 7.6 per match)
Top point scorer	William Havili (Tasman) 51 points
Top try scorer	Kade Banks (North Harbour) 7 tries
Official website
www.provincial.rugby
← 2023 2025 →

The 2024 Bunnings NPC season is the nineteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition, the National Provincial Championship, since it turned professional in 2006. It involves the top 14 provincial rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition is known as the Bunnings NPC. The regular season began on 9 August 2024, when 2023 champions Taranaki hosted Counties Manukau. The final is scheduled for 26 October 2024.

Under the current competition format, which is a continuation of that of 2023, the 14 provincial unions participating in the Bunnings NPC are grouped in one single division, ranked on one single competition table and play for one NPC title.^[1][2]

All provincial teams play ten games during the regular season (round robin): five games are played at the provincial union's home ground and five games are away games. The seven teams that finished the previous season in 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th place will play each other as well as four cross-over matches against the teams that finished 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th. Likewise, the teams that finished 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th will also play each other as well as four cross-over games against the provinces that were ranked 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th or 13th at the end of the previous season.^[1][2] The ten round robin games in 2024 are played over a period of nine weeks (starting on Friday 9 August 2024) and include one mid-week game to be played on a Wednesday night.^[3]

The regular season is followed by quarter-finals to be played by the eight highest ranked teams on the competition table. The finals rankings are determined by the number of competition points earned during the regular season. Competition points can be gained in the following way: four points are awarded to the winning team, two points to each team for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams can also receive a bonus point if they score four or more tries in a match, or lose by seven points or less.^[4]

If two or more provincial teams finish with an equal number of competition points, the following tiebreaker rules apply. If two unions are tied, the union which has defeated the other in a head-to-head is placed higher. In case of a draw between them, the side with the biggest points difference is ranked higher. If three or more unions are tied and they have all played each other, the team with most competition points in that year against the other tied unions is ranked higher; if they have not all played each other, the team with the biggest points difference in the round robin is ranked higher. In all cases, if these unions are still tied, the ranking is decided by the highest number of tries scored, the most points scored, or a coin toss.^[1]

The quarter-finals are played as follows, with the highest-ranked team hosting:

QF 1: 1 v 8;

QF 2: 2 v 7;

QF 3: 3 v 6; and

QF 4: 4 v 5.

In the semi-finals, the highest-ranked quarter-final winner hosts the lowest-ranked quarter-final winner and the second highest-ranked quarter-final winner hosts the third highest-ranked quarter-final winner.

The NPC Final will be played between the two semi-final winners, again at the home venue of the team with the higher finals ranking.^[1][2]

The rules governing Ranfurly Shield Challenges state that every home game during the regular season played by the union that holds the Ranfurly Shield is a mandartory challenge match. No challenge matches will be played after the regular season has ended (i.e., during the finals). A holder who competes in the Bunnings NPC must also accept at least two challenges from unions competing in the Heartland Championship, including a challenge lodged by the winner of the Meads Cup at the end of the previous season. These non-mandatory challenge matches must be played before the start of the NPC season.^[1]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Hawke's Bay (RS)	5	5	0	0	192	126	+66	29	16	5	0	25	Bunnings NPC quarter-finals
2	Wellington	4	4	0	0	140	92	+48	19	14	4	0	20
3	Tasman	4	4	0	0	158	46	+112	20	6	3	0	19
4	Bay of Plenty	5	3	0	2	145	137	+8	21	17	4	1	17
5	Taranaki	4	3	0	1	111	83	+28	15	12	2	1	15
6	Waikato	4	2	0	2	115	120	−5	16	16	3	0	11
7	Otago	4	2	0	2	89	95	−6	10	12	1	1	10
8	Southland	4	2	0	2	94	109	−15	14	14	2	0	10
9	Canterbury	5	2	0	3	110	137	−27	14	17	1	1	10
10	North Harbour	4	1	0	3	128	130	−2	18	19	3	2	9
11	Northland	4	1	0	3	112	138	−26	14	22	2	1	7
12	Counties Manukau	5	1	0	4	105	182	−77	13	27	2	1	7
13	Auckland	4	0	0	4	88	122	−34	12	14	0	2	2
14	Manawatu	4	0	0	4	96	166	−70	14	23	2	0	2

Each team's cumulative points total is shown for every week of the regular season with the overall log position in brackets.

Team	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9	QF	SF	Final
Auckland	0 (10th)	1 (13th)	2 (12th)	2 (13th)
Bay of Plenty	10 (1st)	15 (1st)	17 (2nd)	17 (4th)
Canterbury	5 (4th)	5 (7th)	10 (6th)	10 (9th)
Counties Manukau	1 (9th)	2 (12th)	2 (13th)	7 (12th)
Hawke's Bay	5 (5th)	10 (2nd)	20 (1st)	25 (1st)
Manawatu	0 (14th)	0 (14th)	1 (14th)	2 (14th)
North Harbour	1 (8th)	2 (11th)	7 (8th)	9 (10th)
Northland	0 (12th)	5 (6th)	5 (11th)	7 (11th)
Otago	0 (11th)	4 (10th)	9 (7th)	10 (7th)
Southland	4 (7th)	4 (9th)	5 (10th)	10 (8th)
Taranaki	5 (3rd)	6 (5th)	11 (5th)	15 (5th)
Tasman	5 (2nd)	9 (4th)	14 (4th)	19 (3rd)
Waikato	0 (13th)	5 (8th)	6 (9th)	11 (6th)
Wellington	5 (6th)	10 (3rd)	15 (3rd)	20 (2nd)
Key:	Win	Draw	Loss	No game	DNQ = did not qualify

In the regular season of the 2024 Bunnings NPC, each team plays 10 games over a period of nine weeks, including one mid-week game. The competition started on 9 August 2024, when Taranaki beat Counties Manukau 31–15 in New Plymouth.^[3] The first Ranfurly Shield defence of the season took place on 17 August 2024, when Hawke's Bay beat Southland 31–17 in Napier.^[5]

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1
	8
	4
	5
	2
	7
	3
	6

No.	Player	Team	Points	Average	Details
1	William Havili	Tasman	51	12.75	0 T, 15 C, 7 P, 0 D
2	Josh Jacomb	Taranaki	46	11.50	2 T, 9 C, 6 P, 0 D
3	Lincoln McClutchie	Hawke's Bay	43	8.60	2 T, 9 C, 5 P, 0 D
4	James White	Canterbury	41	8.20	1 T, 6 C, 8 P, 0 D
5	Cam Millar	Otago	39	9.75	0 T, 9 C, 7 P, 0 D
6	Tane Edmed	North Harbour	38	9.50	0 T, 13 C, 4 P, 0 D
7	Rivez Reihana	Northland	37	9.25	0 T, 11 C, 5 P, 0 D
8	Jackson Garden-Bachop	Wellington	36	9.00	1 T, 8 C, 5 P, 0 D
9	Kade Banks	North Harbour	35	8.75	7 T, 0 C, 0 P, 0 D
10	Kaleb Trask	Bay of Plenty	24	6.00	0 T, 9 C, 2 P, 0 D

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

No.	Player	Team	Tries	Average
1	Kade Banks	North Harbour	7	1.75
2	Nigel Ah Wong	Auckland	4	1.00
	Tjay Clarke	Wellington	4	1.00
	Joe Johnston	Bay of Plenty	4	0.80
	Daniel Sinkinson	Waikato	4	1.33
	Timoci Tavatavanawai	Tasman	4	1.00
7	16 players		3

Team	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total		Average
Auckland	21	29	25	27	21	27	21	39													88	122	22.00	30.50
Bay of Plenty	36	21	44	31	24	20	26	31	15	34											145	137	29.00	27.40
Canterbury	34	21	7	22	27	21	21	27	21	46											110	137	22.00	27.40
Counties Manukau	15	31	31	44	20	26	3	48	36	33											105	182	21.00	36.40
Hawke's Bay	41	32	31	17	55	30	27	21	38	26											192	126	38.40	25.20
Manawatu	21	54	18	35	31	39	26	38													96	166	24.00	41.50
North Harbour	32	41	20	24	43	29	33	36													128	130	32.00	32.50
Northland	21	34	35	18	30	55	26	31													112	138	28.00	34.50
Otago	13	22	27	25	31	26	18	22													89	95	22.25	23.75
Southland	22	13	17	31	24	39	31	26													94	109	23.50	27.25
Taranaki	31	15	19	26	39	24	22	18													111	83	27.75	20.75
Tasman	54	21	22	7	48	3	34	15													158	46	39.50	11.50
Waikato	21	36	26	20	29	43	39	21													115	120	28.75	30.00
Wellington	29	21	26	19	39	31	46	21													140	92	35.00	23.00

Source: Bunnings NPC Fixtures and Results 2024^[3]

Team	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total		Average
Auckland	3	4	3	3	3	2	3	5													12	14	3.00	3.50
Bay of Plenty	5	3	6	4	4	2	4	4	2	4											21	17	4.20	3.40
Canterbury	6	3	1	1	2	3	2	4	3	6											14	17	2.80	3.40
Counties Manukau	2	5	4	6	2	4	0	7	5	5											13	27	2.60	5.40
Hawke's Bay	6	5	4	2	9	3	4	2	6	4											29	16	5.80	3.20
Manawatu	3	8	2	4	5	5	4	6													14	23	3.50	5.75
North Harbour	5	6	2	4	6	4	5	5													18	19	4.50	4.75
Northland	3	6	4	2	3	9	4	5													14	22	3.50	5.50
Otago	1	3	3	3	4	4	2	2													10	12	2.50	3.00
Southland	3	1	2	4	4	5	5	4													14	14	3.50	3.50
Taranaki	5	2	3	4	5	4	2	2													15	12	3.75	3.00
Tasman	8	3	1	1	7	0	4	2													20	6	5.00	1.50
Waikato	3	5	4	2	4	6	5	3													16	16	4.00	4.00
Wellington	4	3	4	3	5	5	6	3													19	14	4.75	3.50

For

Against

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

Player	Team	Red	Yellow	Sent off match(es)
Michael Bent	Taranaki	0	1	Week 1 (vs. Counties Manukau)
Cam Church	Counties Manukau	0	1	Week 1 (vs. Bay of Plenty)
Liam Daniela	Counties Manukau	0	1	Week 1 (vs. Taranaki)
Tane Edmed	North Harbour	0	1	Week 3 (vs. Waikato)
William Furniss	Counties Manukau	0	1	Week 2 (vs. Waikato)
William Havili	Tasman	0	1	Week 4 (vs. Bay of Plenty)
Willi Heinz	Canterbury	0	1	Week 2 (vs. Tasman)
Taha Kemara	Waikato	0	1	Week 2 (vs. Counties Manukau)
Du'Plessis Kirifi	Wellington	0	1	Week 3 (vs. Manawatu)
Peniasi Malimali	Counties Manukau	0	1	Week 1 (vs. Bay of Plenty)
Jackson Morgan	Taranaki	0	1	Week 3 (vs. Southland)
Jona Nareki	Otago	0	1	Week 4 (vs. Taranaki)
Jacob Norris	Bay of Plenty	0	1	Week 3 (vs. Otago)
James Thompson	Counties Manukau	0	1	Week 3 (vs. Tasman)
Will Tucker	Otago	0	1	Week 4 (vs. Taranaki)

On 29 February 2024, the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union confirmed that 2023 Meads Cup winners South Canterbury and King Country were the Heartland Championship teams to challenge Hawke's Bay for the Ranfurly Shield in 2024.^[6] However, on 22 May 2024, it was announced that South Canterbury had withdrawn from its challenge for financial reasons and that Whanganui – the 2023 Heartland Championship runners-up – would take its place.^[7]

---

• Official website