With 2014 final positions determining the seeding order for the next season, the first round was automatically selected on seeding order.

While the crossover match-ups have been confirmed, the scheduling will not be confirmed until February next year.

The selections were based on the summer guardians of the Ranfurly Shield, the Hawke’s Bay Magpies, being the holders of the Shield at the time of the fixture.

New Zealand Rugby General Manager Rugby Neil Sorensen said the 2014 season had been entertaining, thrilling at times, and often had people on the edge of their seats as results were only determined in the dying minutes of a game.

“One the best features of this year’s ITM Cup competition, has been the notion that any team, could win anywhere, anytime, and often against any odds.

“We saw some highly entertaining and great footy this year, and as many of the results panned out, the assumed underdogs would often turn the tables on their opponents to steal, or almost steal, a win.

“This year, several Unions took the opportunity to canvas their fans to see who they thought their teams should choose.  Some were aligned with their coaches’ choices, and some were at the other end.

“It was great to see the Unions reaching out to their fans for feedback who had plenty to say, and it was good to see some getting into the spirit of friendly rivalry by stacking their other team’s fan feedback to suit their own team!

“Congratulations to all teams and their fans – the resurgence in support for the traditionally smaller Unions has been really encouraging.

“We know that a large number of players earned their first full time Super Rugby contracts on the back of spectacular ITM Cup seasons in 2014.

“It’s always exciting watching future talent stepping out for the first time in a semi-professional competition.  We wish all teams well as they prepare for the 2015 season,” Sorensen said.

New Zealand Rugby will now begin work on the draw for 2015, which will be announced by mid-February next year.

CROSSOVER SELECTION ROUNDS

AUTOMATIC SELECTION

Bay of Plenty v Taranaki
Otago v Tasman
North Harbour v Canterbury
Southland v Auckland
Northland v Counties Manukau
Hawke’s Bay v Waikato
Wellington v Manawatu

Provincial Union Selection Rounds

CROSSOVER SELECTION 1:
Championship team choosing Premiership opponent, for Championship home game, done in reverse seeding order.

Bay of Plenty v Waikato
Otago v Canterbury
North Harbour v Counties Manukau
Southland v Manawatu
Northland v Taranaki
Hawke’s Bay v Auckland (RS)
Wellington v Tasman

CROSSOVER SELECTION 2:  Premiership team chooses Championship opponent for premiership home game:

Taranaki v Otago
Tasman v Bay of Plenty
Canterbury v Southland
Auckland v Northland
Counties Manukau v Hawke’s Bay
Waikato v Wellington
Manawatu v North Harbour

CROSSOVER SELECTION 3:  Championship team chooses premiership opponent, with Premiership team at home.

Taranaki v Wellington
Canterbury v Hawke’s Bay
Manawatu v Northland
Waikato v Southland
Tasman v North Harbour
Auckland v Otago
Counties Manukau v Bay of Plenty

2015 ITM Cup Draw Format
The key features of the ITM Cup format for 2015 are:

•    the 14 teams are divided into two divisions of seven teams (referred to as the Premiership and the Championship), based on finishing position in the 2014 ITM Cup (teams finishing 1-7 will form the Premiership, teams finishing 8-14 will form the Championship);
•    in 2015 the ITM Cup will be conducted over a 11 week period and involve:
•    1 midweek match (with the hosts of the midweek games in 2014 playing their midweek game away in 2015); and for each division, semifinals and a Final.
•    each team will play every other team in its division once and 4 crossover matches (in which a team from the Premiership plays a team from the Championship), thus playing 10 competition matches.
•    all competition matches carry full competition points
•    the Ranfurly Shield is automatically contested when the holder of the shield plays at home in any round (excluding semis and final);
•    the winning Team in the final of the Championship will participate in the Premiership in the following year, and the last placed Team in the Premiership will participate in the Championship in the following year.

The 2014 ITM Cup results have determined the seeding order for the 2015 competition.

They are: