Today New Zealand Rugby announced both the 2021 schedules for the Bunnings Warehouse National Provincial Championship and the Farah Palmer Cup.

The Farah Palmer Cup (FPC) kicks off Friday 16^th July, with the North vs South Pools scraped in favour of a Premiership/Championship format.

Waikato will start the competition with a bye week, so Waikato’s first game of the 2021 season will see a repeat of last year’s final, as Canterbury travel to the Waikato with a venue to be confirmed (Saturday 24th July).

Our Waikato FPC side then have 2 away matches as they travel to Bay of Plenty to face the Volcanix in week 3 (Saturday 31st July) and Otago in Dunedin in week 4 (Saturday 7th August).

Weeks 5 and 6 are back-to-back home games at FMG Stadium Waikato, when they host Wellington (Sunday 15th August) as the first game of a double header. Then the following week Waikato FPC will be game two of a triple header when they host provincial neighbours Counties Manukau (Saturday 21st August).

The final regular season match of the FPC will be against the old foe, Auckland (Saturday 28th August) before the semi-finals of the Premiership commence the first weekend of September.  

Waikato’s Bunnings National Provincial Championship (NPC) season begins on the road on Sunday 8^th August, as they travel to QBE Stadium to defend the Les Pearce Cup against North Harbour.

Followed by back-to-back home games at FMG Stadium Waikato, against Wellington (Sunday 15^th August) and the massive triple header on Saturday 21^st August, that will feature Thames Valley vs Mid Canterbury (Hearthland Championship), Waikato vs Counties Manukau (FPC) and a throw back to Waikato’s first ever provincial game as they defend the Ryan Wheeler Memorial trophy against Taranaki (NPC).

In week 4 Waikato have a potential Ranfurly Shield challenge when they travel to Napier to face the current holders Hawkes Bay (Saturday 28^th August) at McLean Park, then again away to face Bay of Plenty (Saturday 4^th September) at Tauranga Domain in week 5.

Waikato then host Otago (Sunday 12^th September) and Canterbury (Sunday 19^th September) back at FMG Stadium Waikato in week 6 and 7 before again being on the road two weeks in a row against Tasman (Friday 24^th September) and Northland (Saturday 2^nd October).

The final regular season game for the Waikato NPC side is at home in week 10 against Auckland (Saturday 9^th October) for the Stan Thomas Memorial trophy.  

Find the Waikato Bunnings Warehouse FPC draw here 

Find the Waikato Bunnings Warehouse NPC draw here

Article added: Tuesday 18 May 2021