National Provincial Championship

The National Provincial Championship (which for sponsorship reasons, is referred to as Air New Zealand NPC or just simply NPC) is New Zealand's principal domestic rugby union competition. It is held annually, with 27 provincial unions competing in three divisions.

The competition

The National Provincial Championship is held annually. Rugby teams from 27 provincial unions compete in three divisions, 10 in Division One, 9 in Division Two, and 8 in Division Three. There is a promotion/relegation system—the bottom placed Division One team plays the Division Two champion to determine if they swap places; whilst the bottom placed Division Two team is automatically relegated and the Division Three champion promoted.

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The annual Division One/Division Two promotion/relegation match was held at the home ground of the bottom team in Division One until 2002. Starting with the 2003 season, the site of the test match was changed to the home ground of the Division Two champion.

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The championship typically starts in August. Each team plays every other team in their division once in a round robin fashion. The top four ranking teams in each division then contest two semi-finals with the winners of those matches going on to contest a final. The winner of each final is then declared winner of the championship.

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