2013 Heartland Championship

The 2013 Heartland Championship, the eighth edition of the Heartland Championship since the 2006 reconstruction, was a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur rugby unions in New Zealand. The tournament involved a round-robin stage in which the twelve teams played eight games each and then the top four advanced to the Meads Cup semifinals, while fifth to eighth advanced to the Lochore Cup semifinals. In both of these knockout stages the top seeds played at home against the lowest seeds, the second highest seeds played at home against the third highest seeds and the final had the higher seed play at home against the lower seed.

Teams

The 2013 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams:

Team	Super Rugby partner	Hometown	Home stadium	Capacity
Buller	Crusaders	Westport	Victoria Square	5,000
East Coast	Hurricanes	Ruatoria	Whakarua Park	3,000
Horowhenua-Kapiti	Hurricanes	Levin	Levin Domain	6,500
King Country	Chiefs	Taupō	Owen Delany Park	20,000
Mid Canterbury	Crusaders	Ashburton	Ashburton Showgrounds	5,000
North Otago	Highlanders	Oamaru	Centennial [Park, Oamaru\|Whitestone Contracting Stadium]	7,000
Poverty Bay	Hurricanes	Gisborne	More FM Rugby Park	18,000
South Canterbury	Crusaders	Timaru	Fraser Park	12,000
Thames Valley	Chiefs	Paeroa	Paeroa Domain	3,000
Wairarapa Bush	Hurricanes	Masterton	Trust House Memorial Park	10,000
Wanganui	Hurricanes	Wanganui	Cooks Gardens	15,000
West Coast	Crusaders	Greymouth	Rugby Park	6,000

Pre-season

Two Heartland Championship teams – Horowhenua-Kapiti and East Coast – challenged Waikato for the Ranfurly Shield in two matches that took place in at Whakarua Park, Ruatoria and Campbell Park, Morrinsville.

Standings

	Meads Cup and Heartland Championship
	Lochore Cup qualification

In the case of two teams being tied on points, the ranking of teams is decided by:

the winner of the round robin match between the two provinces; then
highest point difference; then
most tries scored; then
a coin toss.

In the case of three or more teams being tied on points the ranking of teams is decided by:

the province with the most wins against other tied provinces in the Round Robin; then
if two teams remain tied they shall be ranked according to the criteria listed above, but if more than two teams remain tied, they shall be ranked according to criteria to only.