National Provincial Championship (2006–present)
| Upcoming season or competition: 2025 Bunnings NPC | |
| Formerly | Air New Zealand Cup (2006–2009) ITM Cup (2010–2015) Mitre 10 Cup (2016–2020) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | October 1975 |
| First season | 1976 |
| CEO | Mark Robinson |
| No. of teams | 14 |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Headquarters | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Most recent champion(s) | Wellington (2024) |
| Most titles | Auckland (17 titles) |
| Broadcaster(s) | Sky Sport Stan Sport |
| Sponsor(s) | Bunnings |
| Related competitions | Farah Palmer Cup Heartland Championship |
| Official website | provincial.rugby |
The National Provincial Championship (NPC) is an annual, men's round-robin rugby union competition organised by New Zealand Rugby. First played in 1976, it is the second highest level of professional rugby in New Zealand. The Ranfurly Shield is also played for during the season. In 2021, Bunnings became the naming rights sponsor and the competition has been known as the Bunnings NPC since. A concurrent women's tournament is also held, called the Farah Palmer Cup.
Following the 2005 season the league was restructured into a two-tier competition. The National Provincial Championship would include professional and semi-professional players, and consist of the top fourteen financial and sporting best performing regional teams. For sponsorship reasons it was rebranded as the Air New Zealand Cup. The remaining teams would form an amateur competition known as the Heartland Championship.
Twenty-nine teams have competed since the inception of the competition in 1976. Auckland are historically the most successful union with seventeen titles and Canterbury is the most successful team during the professional-era, having won nine from eleven finals. Eight other teams have won titles from both periods: Wellington (6), Waikato (3), Otago (2), Taranaki (2), Tasman (2), Bay of Plenty (1), Counties Manukau (1) and Manawatu (1).