Northland to play four crossover games in the NPC competition this season

Northland will again host Waikato at Semenoff Stadium in this year's Bunnings Warehouse NPC competition. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A new Bunnings Warehouse 2022 NPC competition format will have Northland play four crossover games and host five home matches, including those against Auckland and North Harbour.

The new format, featuring all 14 teams playing for one title for the first time since 2010, kicks off on Friday, August 5, and has teams placed into two pools made up of teams with seedings based on the previous season's standings.

Teams are seeded into two conferences based on the previous season's standings following the round-robin matches and quarterfinals.

Teams placed 1 (Waikato), 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 will play in the Odds conference and teams placed 2 (Tasman), 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 (Northland) will play in the Evens conference in 2022.

The round-robin includes four crossover matches a team, where teams from the Odds conference will play teams from the Evens conference.

Northland is in the Evens team that includes Tasman, Canterbury, Auckland, Taranaki, Manawatu, and North Harbour.

Odds teams this season are Waikato, Hawke's Bay, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Otago, Southland, and Counties Manukau.

Northland open their NPC campaign when they take on Taranaki in New Plymouth on August 7 before returning to Semenoff Stadium the following week for their first home game against Waikato.

The team then gets back on the road for a clash with Wellington in Porirua, followed by two home games, against Southland on August 28 and Auckland the following week.

On September 11, the Taniwha will be in Christchurch to play Canterbury then travel back home to face Northland Harbour.

The team's next match is at the Tauranga Domain against Bay of Plenty at the end of September.

Northland's last game will be at home, against Manawatu on October 2.

The quarterfinals will be played on October 7, 8, 9, semis a week later and the final the following week.

Northland played in the championship final in 2020, but finished last in 2021 with just a solitary win - against eventual premiership champions Waikato at Semenoff Stadium - to their name.

The Farah Palmer Cup and Heartland Championship draws have also been announced.
Northland Kauris' season opener will be against Tasman in Whangārei on July 23. They host Hawkes Bay and North Harbour in other home games.

The away matches will be against Otago and Taranaki.