# 2022 Heartland Championship

The 2022 Heartland Championship, was the 16th edition of the Heartland Championship, a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur provincial unions in New Zealand.
The tournament began with a round-robin stage in which the twelve teams played eight games each, from which 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 (first and fifth) played at home against the lowest seeds (fourth and eighth), the second highest seeds (second and sixth) played at home against the third highest seeds (third and seventh) and the final featured the higher seed playing at home against the lower seed.

## Teams

The 2022 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams:
| Team | Super Rugby partner | Home ground(s) |
| 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, South Canterbury topped the standings with 39 points after winning all eight games.
| Pos. | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | South Canterbury | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 368 | 122 | +246 | 7 | 0 | 39 |
| 2 | Whanganui | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 352 | 142 | +210 | 7 | 1 | 36 |
| 3 | Thames Valley | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 247 | 189 | +58 | 5 | 2 | 27 |
| 4 | King Country | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 218 | 201 | +17 | 3 | 2 | 25 |
| 5 | North Otago | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 315 | 201 | +114 | 5 | 2 | 23 |
| 6 | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 218 | 298 | −80 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| 7 | East Coast | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 155 | 242 | −87 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| 8 | Mid Canterbury | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 214 | 249 | −35 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| 9 | Buller | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 216 | 386 | −170 | 5 | 0 | 17 |
| 10 | Poverty Bay | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 183 | 242 | −59 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 11 | Wairarapa Bush | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 199 | 297 | −98 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| 12 | West Coast | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 185 | 301 | −116 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
* Meads Cup qualification
* Lochore Cup qualification

## 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

In the 2022 season South Canterbury set a record for the most points (491), tries (69) and conversions (46). They were a class above the opposition winning their semi-final 76–9 over King Country and the final by 47–36 over Whanganui.
The 47 points scored by South Canterbury in the final was also a record as was Sam Briggs individual total of 22.
| Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup final | Meads Cup final | Meads Cup final |
| 2 | Whanganui | 25 | | | |
| 3 | Thames Valley | 18 | | | |
| 3 | Thames Valley | 18 | 2 | South Canterbury | 47 |
| | | | 4 | Whanganui | 36 |
| 1 | South Canterbury | 76 | 4 | Whanganui | 36 |
| 4 | King Country | 9 | | | |

### Lochore Cup

North Otago finished the regular season 5th and therefore top qualifier for the Lochore Cup. However, they lost at home 15–31 to Mid Canterbury in their semi-final. East Coast upset Horowhenua-Kapiti 37–30 at Levin.
East Coast then beat Mid Canterbury by 25–20 in the final. It was the first Lochore Cup title for East Coast. They become the 6th team to have won both the Meads Cup and the Lochore Cup.
| Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup final | Lochore Cup final | Lochore Cup final |
| 1 | North Otago | 15 | | | |
| 4 | Mid Canterbury | 31 | | | |
| 4 | Mid Canterbury | 31 | 1 | East Coast | 25 |
| | | | 2 | Mid Canterbury | 20 |
| 2 | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 30 | 2 | Mid Canterbury | 20 |
| 3 | East Coast | 37 | | | |

## Bill Osborne Taonga

Poverty Bay was awarded the Bill Osborne Taonga through being the 5th ranked team in the 2021 regular season, earning the right to defend it in the 2022 season. They successfully defended the Taonga against Wairarapa Bush but then lost it to Ngati Porou East Coast who defended it twice.
* August 27 - Poverty Bay 30 Wairarapa Bush 26
* September 10 - Poverty Bay 10 Ngati Porou East Coast 12
* September 17 - Ngati Porou East Coast 29 West Coast 27
* October 1 - Ngati Porou East Coast 20 Wairarapa Bush 16

## Ian Kirkpatrick Medal

Since 2022, the Heartland Championship Player of the Year award has been awarded a medal named after former All Blacks captain Ian Kirkpatrick. The winner of the Medal for 2022 was Sam Parkes (East Coast). Other finalists were Siu Kakala (South Canterbury) and Semi Vodosese (Whanganui).