ITM Cup

More than 20,000 fans were present in Dunedin to see recent winners of the Ranfurly shield, Otago face Hawkes Bay in the all Championship match.

The third round of the ITM Cup is the first round to see teams playing twice in one round. Both Wellington and North Harbour, first play against each other, and then face Manawatu and Northland, respectively.

Otago dominated the headlines of this week’s ITM Cup Rugby second round with a gritty 26-19 win over Waikato, to win the Ranfurly Shield for the first time in 56 years.

This weekend’s second round of the ITM Cup is fast approaching, with both Premiership and Championship competitions now in full swing.

The ITM Cup Round 1 2013 is over and there were plenty of high scoring matches with most punters tipping six results with the Tasman victory over Southland the only upset.

ITM Cup Round 1 starts on Thursday night with the opening round likely to feature several upsets. All teams have been playing some kind of warm up matches, but it is difficult to know how much to read into these results.