2018 Mitre 10 Cup

The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season was the thirteenth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 16, when North Harbour hosted Northland. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the Mitre 10 Cup and it was the third season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship, Waikato was promoted to the Premiership, the seventh placed Premiership team, Taranaki was relegated to the Championship.

Format
The Mitre 10 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 included 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 was relegated to the Championship for the following year. The regular season consisted of two types of matches. The internal division matches were when each team played the other six unions in their division once, home or away. The cross-division matches were when each team played four teams from the other division, thus missing out on three teams, each from the opposite division. Each union played home or away games against teams from the other division, making a total of ten competition games for each union. The finals format allowed the top four teams from each division move on to the semi-finals. The top two division winners, based on table points, received a home semi-final. In the first round of the finals, the semi-finals, the second division winner hosted the third division winner, and the first division winner hosted the fourth division winner. The final was hosted by the top remaining seed.

Standings
Source: Mitre 10 Cup standings 2018

Regular season
The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup played across nine weeks with every team playing one Wednesday night fixture in a double-up round where they played twice that week. The competition started on August 16, with North Harbour taking on Northland at QBE Stadium. The opening round saw a repeat of the Premiership final with Tasman against the then current champions Canterbury.

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

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

Points by week
Source: Mitre 10 Cup Fixtures and Results 2018

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

Pre-season challenges
In March 2018, Taranaki accepted Ranfurly Shield challenges from both Heartland Championship unions, Wanganui and Poverty Bay after the regular season draw was confirmed. Tikorangi and Hawera were chosen to host the Ranfurly Shield matches. Taranaki Rugby announced the venues for the pre-season defenses in mid April for July 28 and August 4 at the Tikorangi Domain and TSB Hub.