# 2018 Heartland Championship

The 2018 Heartland Championship, was the thirteenth edition of the Heartland Championship, a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur provincial unions in New Zealand.
The tournament included a round-robin regular season in which the twelve teams played eight games each. The top eight teams from the regular season then advance to the semifinals:
* The teams ranked first to fourth play for the Meads Cup
* The teams ranked fifth to eighth play for the Lochore Cup.
The bottom four teams are eliminated.

## Teams

The 2018 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams:
| Team | Super Rugby partner | Hometown |
| Buller | Crusaders | Westport |
| East Coast | Hurricanes | Ruatoria |
| Horowhenua-Kapiti | Hurricanes | Levin |
| King Country | Chiefs | Taupō |
| Mid Canterbury | Crusaders | Ashburton |
| North Otago | Highlanders | Oamaru |
| Poverty Bay | Hurricanes | Gisborne |
| South Canterbury | Crusaders | Timaru |
| Thames Valley | Chiefs | Paeroa |
| Wairarapa Bush | Hurricanes | Masterton |
| Wanganui | Hurricanes | Wanganui |
| West Coast | Crusaders | Greymouth |

## Regular season standings

In the regular season, Whanganui topped the standings with 39 points after winning all eight games. West Coast was deducted 6 points for fielding an ineligible player, the prop Tyler Morgan-Kearns. This meant that instead of coming 6th with 22 points they were dropped to 9th place with 16 points and therefore missing the Lochore Cup.
| Pos. | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Whanganui | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 331 | 113 | +218 | 7 | 0 | 39 |
| 2 | South Canterbury | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 341 | 151 | +190 | 7 | 1 | 32 |
| 3 | King Country | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 303 | 229 | +72 | 6 | 1 | 31 |
| 4 | Thames Valley | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 274 | 233 | +41 | 7 | 1 | 28 |
| 5 | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 253 | 251 | +2 | 6 | 2 | 24 |
| 6 | Wairarapa Bush | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 212 | 195 | +17 | 4 | 1 | 21 |
| 7 | North Otago | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 213 | 209 | +4 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| 8 | Mid Canterbury | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 225 | 233 | −8 | 5 | 2 | 19 |
| 9 | West Coast | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 228 | 241 | −13 | 5 | 1 | 16 |
| 10 | Buller | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 223 | 289 | −66 | 5 | 3 | 16 |
| 11 | Poverty Bay | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 193 | 302 | −109 | 6 | 2 | 16 |
| 12 | East Coast | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 97 | 447 | −350 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
* Meads Cup qualification
* Lochore Cup qualification
* (1) the winner of the round robin match between the two provinces; then
* (2) highest point difference; then
* (3) most tries scored; then
* (4) a coin toss.
In the case of a three-team or more tie on points the ranking of teams is decided by:
* (1) the province with the most wins against other tied provinces in the Round Robin; then
* (2) 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 (2) to (4) only.

## Finals

In the Meads Cup the top placegetter plays at their home ground against the fourth team while the second placed team plays at home against the third. In the Lochore Cup the fifth placegetter plays at their home ground against the eighth team while the sixth placed team plays at home against the seventh. The winning semi-finalists then meet in the respective finals for each Cup, played at the home-ground of the team ranked highest in the regular season.

### Meads Cup

2018 was the first year that King Country made the Meads Cup semi-finals. They were the last of the twelve provinces to have achieved a "top 4" Meads Cup semi-final place. However, in their semi-final they could not compete with South Canterbury, going down 21–58 at Timaru.
Thames Valley had also not previously made the top 4. Although they only qualified 4th after the regular season, Thames Valley won their Meads Cup semi-final away to the top-ranked Whanganui and followed up with another away win over South Canterbury at Timaru to capture the Meads Cup for the first time.
| Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup final | Meads Cup final | Meads Cup final |
| 2 | South Canterbury | 58 | | | |
| 3 | King Country | 21 | | | |
| 3 | King Country | 21 | 2 | South Canterbury | 12 |
| | | | 4 | Thames Valley | 17 |
| 4 | Thames Valley | 17 | 4 | Thames Valley | 17 |
| 1 | Whanganui | 7 | | | |

### Lochore Cup

Horowhenua-Kapiti who finished the regular season fifth and therefore top qualifier for the Lochore Cup accounted for Mid Canterbury, the previous year's Cup winner, in their semi-final. They then beat Wairarapa Bush by 26–23 in a closely fought final. It was the first Lochore Cup title for Horowhenua-Kapiti.
| Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup final | Lochore Cup final | Lochore Cup final |
| 1 | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 34 | | | |
| 4 | Mid Canterbury | 24 | | | |
| 4 | Mid Canterbury | 24 | 1 | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 26 |
| | | | 2 | Wairarapa Bush | 23 |
| 2 | Wairarapa Bush | 30 | 2 | Wairarapa Bush | 23 |
| 3 | North Otago | 21 | | | |