2018 Mitre 10 Cup
The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup season is the 13th season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it became a 14 team tournament in 2006. The regular season begins on August 16, with North Harbour host a game against their neighbors, Northland. It involves the top fourteen rugby unions of New Zealand. For sponsorship reasons, the competition is known as the Mitre 10 Cup and it is the third season under the lead sponsor. The winner of the Championship will be promoted to the Premiership, while Taranaki, who placed last in the Premiership, will be relegated.
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 respectable bonus 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.
Standings
Standings progression
Regular season
The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup plays across nine weeks with every team playing one Wednesday night fixture in a double-up round where they play twice that week. The competition starts on Thursday August 16, with North Harbour taking on Northland at QBE Stadium. The opening round will see a repeat of the Premiership final with Tasman against current champions Canterbury.Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Play-offs
Semi-finals
----Finals
----Statistics
Leading point scorers
Source:Leading try scorers
Source:Points by week
Tries by week
| Offensive | Defensive |
Sanctions
| Player | Team | Red | Yellow | Suspended for match: |
| Jarrad Hoeata | Taranaki | 1 | 0 | vs. Canterbury |
| Daniel Lienert-Brown | Canterbury | 1 | 0 | vs. Taranaki |
| Sione Misiloi | Otago | 0 | 2 | vs. Bay of Plenty & Tasman |
| Mitch Jacobson | Waikato | 0 | 2 | vs. Northland |
| Tom Robinson | Northland | 0 | 1 | vs. North Harbour |
| Blair Prinsep | Tasman | 0 | 1 | vs. Canterbury |
| Michael Allardice | Hawke's Bay | 0 | 1 | vs. Southland |
| Gareth Evans | Hawke's Bay | 0 | 1 | vs. Southland |
| Josh Timu | Otago | 0 | 1 | vs. Hawke's Bay |
| Chris Eves | North Harbour | 0 | 1 | vs. Tasman |
| Malo Tuitama | Wellington | 0 | 1 | vs. Waikato |
| Tolu Fahamokioa | Wellington | 0 | 1 | vs. Waikato |
| Jordan Manihera | Waikato | 0 | 1 | vs. Wellington |
| Tevita Li | North Harbour | 0 | 1 | vs. Canterbury |
| Connor Collins | Canterbury | 0 | 1 | vs. North Harbour |
| Pasqualle Dunn | Hawke's Bay | 0 | 1 | vs. Waikato |
| Sione Asi | Manawatu | 0 | 1 | vs. Northland |
| Antonio Kiri Kiri | Manawatu | 0 | 1 | vs. Tasman |
| Baden Wardlaw | Bay of Plenty | 0 | 1 | vs. Waikato |
| Melani Nanai | Auckland | 0 | 1 | vs. Taranaki |
| Kara Pryor | Northland | 0 | 1 | vs. Hawke's Bay |
| Faalelei Sione | Manawatu | 0 | 1 | vs. Bay of Plenty |
| Michael Collins | Otago | 0 | 1 | vs. Auckland |
| Sio Tomkinson | Otago | 0 | 1 | vs. Bay of Plenty |
| Meteaki Kafatolu | Wellington | 0 | 1 | vs. Auckland |
| Hamish Northcott | Manawatu | 0 | 1 | vs. Hawke's Bay |
| Sikeli Nabou | Counties Manukau | 0 | 1 | vs. North Harbour |
| Hugh Renton | Canterbury | 0 | 1 | vs. Taranaki |
| Ben Fotheringham | Southland | 0 | 1 | vs. Bay of Plenty |
| Nico Costa | Southland | 0 | 1 | vs. Auckland |
| Dalton Papalii | Auckland | 0 | 1 | vs. North Harbour |
| Michael Curry | Tasman | 0 | 1 | vs. Canterbury |
| Will Jordan | Tasman | 0 | 1 | vs. Canterbury |
| Sam Nock | Northland | 0 | 1 | vs. Waikato |
| James Tucker | Waikato | 0 | 1 | vs. Northland |
| Akira Ioane | Auckland | 0 | 1 | vs. Canterbury |
| Billy Harmon | Canterbury | 0 | 1 | vs. Auckland |