The 2014 ITM Cup season was the 9th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 14, when Taranaki hosted a game against Counties Manukau. It involved the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition is known as the ITMCup and it is the fifth season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship will be promoted to the Premiership, the 7th placed Premiership team will be relegated to the Championship.
Format
The Mitre 10 Cup standings are sorted by a competition points system. Four points are awarded to the winning team, a draw equals to two points, whilst a loss amounts to zero points. Unions can also win their side a respectablebonus point. To receive a bonus point, they must score four tries or more or lose by seven or fewer points or less. Each team is 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 gets placed higher. In case of a draw between them, the side with the biggest points deferential margin will get rights to be ranked above. If they are tied on points difference, it is then decided by a highest scored try count or a coin toss. This seeding format has been 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 is relegated to the Championship for the following year. The regular season consisted of two types of matches. The internal division matches are when each team played the other six unions in their division once, home or away. The cross-division matches are 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 allows 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.
