Farah Palmer Cup
Most recent season or competition:
2023 Farah Palmer Cup
SportRugby Union
Founded1999 (1999)
Owner(s)New Zealand Rugby Union
No. of teams13
CountryNew Zealand
Most recent
champion(s)		Auckland (16th Premiership Title)
Most titlesAuckland (16 Titles)
TV partner(s)Sky Sport
Sponsor(s)Bunnings Warehouse
Related
competitions		Heartland Championship
National Provincial Championship
Official websiteprovincial.rugby/farah-palmer-cup

The Farah Palmer Cup (formerly known as Women's Provincial Championship until 2016), is the highest level domestic women's rugby union competition in New Zealand and is named after the former Black Ferns captain, Farah Palmer. This contest is held annually from early July to mid September and managed by the New Zealand Rugby Union, or NZRU. The competition was first introduced in 1999, with a total of fourteen teams competing initially. The number of teams increased to eighteen in the year 2000, but has decreased to as few as six teams, with 13 currently featured. Canterbury are the current holders of the JJ Stewart Trophy, the women's equivalent of the Ranfurly Shield.[1] The Farah Palmer Cup is an amateur competition; players are not paid salaries and hold jobs outside of rugby.[2]

Competition format

All teams face each other at least once, with the top four teams in the championship proceeding to the semi-finals. From 2011 to 2014, the semi-finals round was eliminated and the top two teams in the championship automatically qualified for the finals. In 2015, the semi-finals round was reintroduced.

In 2017 the Farah Palmer Cup was split into two divisions with promotion and relegation between the two. The top division is named the Premiership while the bottom is called the Championship. A team will play every team in their division once in the regular season before a semi-final then final for each division. In 2019 Northland joined the competition, causing the Premiership to expand to seven teams and leaving the Championship at six teams.

In 2020 the competition was instead run in two pools split geographically between the north and south of New Zealand. The north pool contains seven teams and the south pool contains six, a single round robin is played in each pool. The top two teams from each pool take part in a crossover semi-finals with the final being held a week later.[3]

In 2021 and 2022, the FPC reverted to its original format with all 13 teams being split into two divisions with a promotion and relegation system. The top division is named the Premiership while the bottom division is named the Championship. A Round-Robin format was also used in the regular season to determine which teams will make the playoffs in the Semi Final's and the Grand Final.

Teams

Colours Union Town/City, Region Stadium Capacity Established Head coach
Premiership
 Auckland Auckland* Eden Park 50,000 1883 Willie Walker
 Bay of Plenty Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty Rotorua International Stadium
Tauranga Domain		 26,000
5,000		 1911 Rodney Gibbs
 Canterbury Christchurch, Canterbury Orangetheory Stadium 18,000 1879 Blair Baxter
 Counties Manukau Pukekohe, Auckland Navigation Homes Stadium 12,000 1955 Chad Shepherd
 Manawatu Palmerston North, Manawatu Central Energy Trust Arena 15,000 1886 Fusi Feaunati
 Northland Whangarei, Northland Semenoff Stadium 30,000 1920 Cheryl Smith
 Waikato Hamilton, Waikato FMG Stadium Waikato 25,800 1921 James Semple
Championship
 Hawke's Bay Napier, Hawke's Bay McLean Park 19,700 1884 Blair Cross, Stephen Woods
 North Harbour Albany, Auckland North Harbour Stadium 25,000 1985 Duncan McGrory
 Otago Dunedin, Otago Forsyth Barr Stadium 30,748 1881 Scott Manson
 Taranaki New Plymouth, Taranaki TET Stadium & Events Centre 4,000 1885 Brendan Haami
 Tasman Nelson*
Blenheim, Marlborough		 Trafalgar Park
Lansdowne Park		 18,000
15,000		 2006 Mel Bosman
 Wellington Wellington* Sky Stadium 34,500 1879 Ross Bond
1. * Denotes Town/City named the same as the region.

Champions

Premiership

Season Winner Score Runner-up Semi-finalist 1 Semi-finalist 2 League Leader
2006[4] Wellington 11–10 Auckland Otago Hawke's Bay Otago
2007[5] Auckland 13–12 Otago Wellington Canterbury Auckland
2008[6] Auckland 13–12 Canterbury Hawke's Bay Manawatu Auckland
2009[7] Auckland 24–20 Canterbury Hawke's Bay Wellington Canterbury
2011[8] Auckland 34–8 Wellington Auckland
2012[9] Auckland 38–12 Canterbury Auckland
2013[10] Auckland 20–10 Canterbury Canterbury
2014[11] Auckland 28–14 Waikato Auckland
2015[12] Auckland 39–9 Wellington Waikato Counties Manukau Auckland
2016 Counties Manukau 41–22 Auckland Wellington Canterbury Counties Manukau
2017 Canterbury 13–7 Counties Manukau Waikato Auckland Counties Manukau
2018 Canterbury 52–29 Counties Manukau Manawatu Waikato Canterbury
2019 Canterbury 30–20 Auckland Wellington Counties Manukau Canterbury
2020 Canterbury 8–7 Waikato Auckland Manawatu Waikato
2021 Waikato 22–20 Canterbury Wellington Canterbury
2022 Canterbury 41–14 Auckland Wellington Waikato Canterbury
2023 Auckland 39-27 Canterbury Hawkes Bay Waikato Canterbury

Championship

Season Winner Score Runner-up Semi-finalist 1 Semi-finalist 2 League Leader
2017 Bay of Plenty 7–5 Otago North Harbour N/A Bay of Plenty
2018 Wellington 57–5 Otago Hawke's Bay North Harbour Wellington
2019 Otago 24–20 Hawke's Bay Tasman Northland Otago
2020 –
2021 Manawatū 55–12 Hawke's Bay Northland Manawatū
2022 Hawke's Bay 24–20 Otago Northland North Harbour Otago
2023 Northland 32–29 Manawatū Tasman Otago Manawatū

Past Premierships

Season Winner Runner-up
1999 Auckland Wellington
2000 Auckland Otago
2001 Auckland Wellington
2002 Auckland Wellington
2003 Auckland Wellington
2004 Auckland Canterbury
2005 Auckland Canterbury

Total Wins

Team Premierships Championships Runners- Up Losing
Semi Finalists
Auckland 16 0 4 2
Canterbury 5 0 7 2
Wellington 1 1 6 6
Counties Manukau 1 0 2 2
Bay of Plenty 0 1 0 0
Otago 0 1 5 1
Hawke's Bay 0 1 2 4
Waikato 1 0 2 3
Manawatū 0 1 0 3
North Harbour 0 0 0 3
Tasman 0 0 0 1
Northland 0 0 0 3
Taranaki 0 0 0 0

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Rugby: Volcanix provincial battles televised". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Go pro? Black Ferns rugby debate – where to after fabulous World Cup triumph", The New Zealand Herald, 28 August 2017 ("Tew said the domestic nine-team Farah Palmer Cup was purely amateur").
  3. ↑ "2020 Farah Palmer Cup draw released". Provincial Rugby. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  4. ↑ "2006 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "2007 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  6. ↑ "2008 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "2009 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "2011 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "2012 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "2013 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "2014 Women's Provincial Championship". ITM CUP. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  12. ↑ "Wellington Pride vow to return to women's provincial rugby final". Stuff. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
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