# 2023 Heartland Championship

The 2023 Heartland Championship, was the 17th 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 2023 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, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti |
| 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 40 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 | 341 | 180 | +161 | 8 | 0 | 40 |
| 2 | Whanganui | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 264 | 156 | +108 | 6 | 2 | 32 |
| 3 | Thames Valley | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 246 | 220 | +26 | 5 | 2 | 31 |
| 4 | Ngati Porou East Coast | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 222 | 183 | +39 | 5 | 2 | 27 |
| 5 | North Otago | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 259 | 228 | +31 | 5 | 1 | 22 |
| 6 | Wairarapa Bush | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 190 | 246 | −56 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
| 7 | West Coast | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 218 | 212 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 21 |
| 8 | Poverty Bay | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 229 | 249 | −20 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 9 | Mid Canterbury | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 221 | 245 | −24 | 5 | 3 | 16 |
| 10 | King Country | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 175 | 248 | −73 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 11 | Buller | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 165 | 242 | −77 | 5 | 2 | 15 |
| 12 | Horowhenua-Kapiti | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 176 | 297 | −121 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
* Meads Cup qualification
* Lochore Cup qualification
During the regular season two games were decided by golden point. The final results in these games (after extra time) were East Coast 24, Buller 21 in Round 4 and West Coast 32, Mid Canterbury 29 in Round 6.
Siu Kakala the Number 8 forward from South Canterbury became the 4th Heartland Championship player to score a try in all 8 regular season games. He also scored a try in the semi-finals. He was named the 2023 Heartland Championship Player of the Year.

## 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 2023 season South Canterbury once again went unbeaten through the regular season, albeit that they scored 341 points, significantly lower than the previous season's record of 491.
South Canterbury went on to win their semi-final 34–17 over Ngati Porou East Coast. As in the 2022 season they met Whanganui in the final and won by 40–30.
It was the 3rd Meads Cup in a row for South Canterbury, equaling the feat of Whanganui who won in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons. South Canterbury set a record with 31 consecutive wins.
| Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup semi-finals | Meads Cup final | Meads Cup final | Meads Cup final |
| 2 | Whanganui | 38 | | | |
| 3 | Thames Valley | 3 | | | |
| 3 | Thames Valley | 3 | 1 | South Canterbury | 40 |
| | | | 2 | Whanganui | 30 |
| 1 | South Canterbury | 34 | 2 | Whanganui | 30 |
| 4 | Ngati Porou East Coast | 17 | | | |

### Lochore Cup

As in the 2022 season, North Otago finished the regular season 5th and therefore top qualifier for the Lochore Cup. However they lost their home semi-final to 8th placed Poverty Bay by 35–40. In the other semi-final Wairarapa Bush the 6th placegetter in the regular season were also upset, losing to 7th placed West Coast by 27–33 at Masterton.
West Coast then beat Poverty Bay by 23–20 in the final. It was the first Lochore Cup title for West Coast who had previously suffered three Lochore Cup final defeats.
| Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup semi-finals | Lochore Cup final | Lochore Cup final | Lochore Cup final |
| 1 | North Otago | 35 | | | |
| 4 | Poverty Bay | 40 | | | |
| 4 | Poverty Bay | 40 | 1 | West Coast | 23 |
| | | | 2 | Poverty Bay | 20 |
| 2 | Wairarapa Bush | 27 | 2 | Poverty Bay | 20 |
| 3 | West Coast | 33 | | | |

## Bill Osborne Taonga

Ngati Porou East Coast had four successful defences of the Bill Osborne Taonga:
* August 19 - Ngati Porou East Coast 19 Mid Canterbury 8
* August 26 - Ngati Porou East Coast 38 North Otago 29
* September 9 - Ngati Porou East Coast 31 Poverty Bay 11
* September 23 - Ngati Porou East Coast 29 King Country 11

## 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 2023 winner was Siu Kakala (South Canterbury). Other finalists were Stuart Leach (Poverty Bay) and Alekesio Vakarorogo (Whanganui).