The 2017 Heartland Championship, was the twelfth 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.
Wanganui won the Meads Cup for the third time in a row and the sixth time overall.
It was the first win in the Lochore Cup for Mid Canterbury. They had previously won the Meads Cup in 2013 and 2014. As a result, Mid Canterbury joined North Otago, Wairarapa Bush and Wanganui as the provinces to have one both the Meads Cup and Lochore Cup.[1]
During the Heartland Championship, former All Blacks Piri Weepu, Alby Mathewson and Regan King played for Wairarapa Bush, King Country and Mid Canterbury respectively.[2]
The 2017 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams:
Following the round-eight-week regular season South Canterbury was the top qualifier with 36 points from winning seven games, after losing their first game to Buller.[3]
In the case of a three-team or more tie on points the ranking of teams is decided by:
Although they qualified 4th, Wanganui won their Meads Cup semi-final away to South Canterbury[4] and followed up with a win over Horowhenua-Kapiti at Levin. The Mid Canterbury who finished the regular season fifth and therefore top qualifier for the Lochore Cup accounted for Poverty Bay in their semi-final and West Coast in the final by comfortable points margins.
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