| Date | 19 August 2006–21 October 2006 |
|---|---|
| Countries |  New Zealand |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Wairarapa Bush (Meads Cup) Poverty Bay (Lochore Cup) |
| Runner-up | Wanganui (Meads Cup) King Country (Lochore Cup) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 54 |
2007 → | |
The 2006 Heartland Championship was the inaugural season of the Heartland Championship, an amateur rugby union competition in New Zealand, following the reorganisation of the Second and Third Divisions of the country's former rugby competition, the National Provincial Championship. The competition featured 12 teams, divided into two pools of six.
At the end of Round 1, the top three teams from each pool contested the Meads Cup,[1] and the bottom three from each pool contested the Lochore Cup.[2] Competition points from Round 1 carried over to Round 2, in which each team in each cup competition played a round-robin with the three teams it did not play in Round 1. At the end of Round 2, the top four teams in each cup competition entered a single-elimination playoff for the Meads and Lochore Cups. The cups were named after Colin Meads and Brian Lochore, both legendary players for the country's national team.
The inaugural Meads Cup champion was Wairarapa Bush,[3] and Poverty Bay lifted the first Lochore Cup.
- ^ "Wanganui face tough tests in battle for Meads Cup". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 24 September 2006.
- ^ "TDIH: November 1 2006 – NEW ZEALAND HEARTLAND XV – New Zealand Rugby Museum | All Blacks | Palmerston North". New Zealand Rugby Museum.
- ^ "Meads Cup Final - Wanganui v Wairarapa Bush (October 21, 2006)". Marty Melville/Getty Images.