Wellington Lions NPC draw finalised

Above: Wellington Lions wing Wes Goosen heading for the tryline in last year’s Championship semi-final defeat to North Harbour.

Championship contenders the Wellington Lions face Manawatu for the Coronation Cup in Palmerston North on a Sunday afternoon in their Men’s NPC Championship opener this year.

The 20 August clash comes a fortnight after the Jubilee Cup final, and is followed the following Saturday by their first home game for the John F Henning Trophy against Taranaki at Westpac Stadium, a fixture that will directly clash with the loads of other representative rugby and First XV rugby on that afternoon too.

A drawback of the new competition structure and Wellington’s under performance in recent years has been that the Lions haven’t played either Auckland or Canterbury for two straight seasons.

Their rivalry with the defending champions Canterbury resumes in round five on Sunday 17 September in Wellington, but the Auckland match will not be played again in 2017. Wellington and Auckland used to meet regularly twice a year but will now go at least four seasons without contesting the Fred Lucas Cup.

The Lions will play two matches in a week in round 4, against Hawke’s Bay on Wednesday 6 September and against Tasman on Sunday 10 September.

Wellington’s scheduled final round-robin fixture of the season is against Northland on Thursday 12 October, ahead of the semi-finals and the drive toward promotion to the Premiership ranks.

Other home matches are against Otago and Northland.

The NPC is the breeding ground for the next wave of talent to come through and push towards Super Rugby and beyond. Many of these players are picked up from club rugby, which starts in Wellington next Saturday. 

Wellington’s draw for the 2017 Men’s NPC

• Week 1: v Manawatu at Palmerston North, Sunday 20 August, 4.35pm
• Week 2: v Taranaki at Westpac Stadium, Saturday 26 August, 2.35pm
• Week 3: v Bay of Plenty at TBC, Thursday 31 August, 7.35pm
• Week 4: #1 v Hawke’s Bay at Westpac Stadium, Wednesday 6 September, 7.35pm
• Week 4: #2 v Tasman at TBC, Sunday 10 September, 2.35pm
• Week 5: v Canterbury at Westpac Stadium, Sunday 17 September, 4.35pm
• Week 6: v Waikato at Hamilton, Saturday 23 September, 5.05pm
• Week 7: v Otago at Westpac Stadium, Sunday 1 October, 2.35pm
• Week 8: v Southland at Invercargill, Saturday 7 October, 7.35pm
• Week 9: v Northland at Westpac Stadium, Thursday 12 October, 7.35pm
• Semi-finals: v TBC, Friday 20 and Saturday 21 October
• Final: v TBC, Friday 27 October, 7.35pm

For the full 2017 Mitre 10 Cup draw click here