2006 Air New Zealand Cup
| 2006 Air New Zealand Cup season | |
|---|---|
| Countries | New Zealand |
| Date | 28 July – 21 October 2006 |
| Champions | Waikato |
| Runners-up | Wellington |
| Matches played | 70 |
| Tries scored | 374 (average 5.3 per match) |
| Top point scorer | Jimmy Gopperth (Wellington) 121 points |
| Top try scorer | Richard Kahui (Waikato) 8 tries |
| Official website | |
| allblacks | |
The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the first season of a new structure for the National Provincial Championship (known as the Air New Zealand Cup for sponsorship reasons), contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 2006. At the end of the regular season, the top six teams were joined in the quarter-finals by the top team from each of the repechage routes, with the winners going through to the semi-finals. The winner of each semi-final qualified for the final, which was contested between Waikato and Wellington; Waikato won 37–31 to claim the first Air New Zealand Cup title.
This season was the first of the expanded competition, which has succeeded the First Division of the National Provincial Championship. It also saw the introduction of four new teams, Hawke's Bay, Counties Manukau, Manawatu and the newly formed Tasman (a merger of Nelson Bays and Marlborough). On 3 June 2006, the Commerce Commission accepted the NZRU proposal of a salary cap for the Air New Zealand Cup. This was mainly so that the talent pool of players could be spread between the 14 rugby unions.