2006 Air New Zealand Cup

2006 Air New Zealand Cup season
CountriesNew Zealand New Zealand
Date28 July – 21 October 2006
ChampionsWaikato
Runners-upWellington
Matches played70
Tries scored374
(average 5.3 per match)
Top point scorerJimmy Gopperth (Wellington)
121 points
Top try scorerRichard Kahui (Waikato)
8 tries
Official website
allblacks.com
2007 →

The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the first season of a new structure for the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 2006. At the end of the regular season, the top six teams were joined in the quarter-finals by the top team from each of the repechage routes, with the winners going through to the semi-finals.[1] The winner of each semi-final qualified for the final, which was contested between Waikato and Wellington; Waikato won 37–31 to claim the first Air New Zealand Cup title.[2]

This season was the first of the expanded competition, which has succeeded the First Division of the National Provincial Championship. It also saw the introduction of four new teams, Hawke's Bay, Counties Manukau, Manawatu and the newly formed Tasman (a merger of Nelson Bays and Marlborough).[3] On 3 June 2006, the Commerce Commission accepted the NZRU proposal of a salary cap for the Air New Zealand Cup. This was mainly so that the talent pool of players could be spread between the 14 rugby unions.[4]

  1. ^ "air new zealand cup 2006 • competition structure" (PDF). 5 July 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Waikato win Air NZ Cup final". Stuff. 21 October 2006.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Air New Zealand Cup launched in grand style". Air New Zealand. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2006.
  4. ^ Commerce Commission New Zealand (21 October 2006). "Rugby Union salary cap authorised for six years". Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2013.