2016 Heartland Championship

The 2016 Heartland Championship, known as the 2016 Mitre 10 Heartland Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the eleventh edition of the Heartland Championship, a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur rugby unions in New Zealand. The tournament included 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.

Law changes
The New Zealand Rugby Union decided to implement new law changes for the Heartland Championship for 2016. These law changes involved a new points scoring system:
 * 8 pts for a penalty try (no conversion kick required);
 * 6 pts for a try;
 * 2 pts for a penalty, conversion or drop goal.

Teams
The 2016 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams:

Ranfurly Shield challenges
Three Heartland Championship teams, Thames Valley, King Country and Wanganui challenged Waikato for the coveted Ranfurly Shield. Thames Valley last challenged for the Ranfurly Shield in 2014 against Counties Manukau (losing 68–0), whereas both King Country and Wanganui last challenged for it in 2012 against Taranaki (losing 67–16 and 51–7, respectively).

The first challenge came from Thames Valley in June, when the Swamp Foxes succumbed 83–13 to Waikato. In July the holders retained their Shield in a 55-to-nothing victory against King Country. The last Heartland Championship challenge for 2016 saw Waikato defeat Wanganui 32–12 in Cambridge.

Standings
In the case of a two-team tie on points the ranking of teams is decided by: In the caseof a three-team or more 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.
 * (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.

Regular season
The schedule of fixtures was confirmed on 1 March 2016.

Semifinals

 * Meads Cup


 * Lochore Cup

Finals

 * Meads Cup


 * Lochore Cup