2011 ITM Cup
The 2011 ITM Cup season was the sixth season since the competition reconstruction in 2006 and the first under the new Premiership and Championship format. For the ITM Cup competition it involved the top 14 provincial unions of New Zealand. The tournament was won by Canterbury, who defeated Waikato 12–3 in the competition final. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the ITM Cup and it was currently the second season under the new sponsor. Including the defunct National Provincial Championship, this is the 35th season of New Zealand's premier domestic competition. The regular season matches took place from 14 July until 30 August – followed by the final on 3 September. It finished without semi-finals to allow more time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup to be held in September and October; in future non-World Cup years, the competition will extend into semi-finals.
The 2011 season saw the arrival of the new Premiership and Championship division format. The 14 teams were grouped based on their on-field finishing positions in 2010 plus a promotion/relegation between the winner of the Championship receiving automatic promotion to the Premiership replacing the seventh placed team in the Premiership which will be relegated to the Championship.
Competition format
Covering 8 weeks, the schedule features a total of 72 matches. The 14 teams are grouped and divided into two divisions of seven teams, labelled the Premiership Division and the Championship Division. They are based on their on-field finishing positions following the previous year, teams finishing 1–7 will form the Premiership, teams finishing 8–14 will form the Championship. Including a promotion/relegation process between the winner of the Championship receiving automatic promotion to the Premiership replacing the seventh placed team in the Premiership which will be relegated to the Championship for the following year. The regular season consists of two types of matches:- Internal Division Matches – Each team plays the other six teams in the same division once, home or away.
- Cross Division Matches – Each team plays four teams from the other division, thus missing out on three teams. Each team plays home or away games against teams from the other division, making a total of ten competition games for each team.
There is also the Ranfurly Shield. It is automatically contested when the holder of the shield plays at home in any round.
Standings
Source: itmcup.co.nzLegend:
| Qualified for Division Finals. | |
| Relegated to Championship for 2012. | |
| Ranfurly Shield holders. |
- Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, PF = Points for, PA = Points against, PD = Points difference, TF = Tries For, TA = Tries Against, TB = Try Bonus points, LB = Losing Bonus points, Pts = Log Points
- 4 points for a win
- 2 points for a draw
- 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
- 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match
- Four Division Winners/Leaders in log points order
- The remaining three teams in log points order
- When teams are level on log points, they are sorted by:
- * the winner of the round robin match between the two provinces
- * highest overall points difference
- * highest number of tries scored
- * highest number of points scored
- * a coin toss
Round-by-round
| Offensive | Defensive |
| Offensive | Defensive |