The 2018 Mitre 10 Cup draw will bring home matches against Hawkes Bay, Counties Manukau, Otago, Bay of Plenty and Auckland with New Zealand Rugby announcing the draw today.

The season will kick off at home on the 19th August against Hawkes Bay, with nine weeks of round robin before semi-finals and finals.

Our third home game sees us host our neighbouring provincial rivals, the Otago Rugby Union, for our annual hit out striving to claim the Donald Stuart Memorial Trophy as ours. This will be one of our most popular games of the season and we look forward to seeing the Southland community rally together to show Otago what we’re made of and the pride we have for our region.

Rugby Southland General Manager, Brian Hopley said “the Union is looking forward to the season kicking off in August”.

SIT Zero Fees Southland Stags Head Coach, Dave Hewett says “we are looking forward to starting the season with a home game and also putting performances on the field that the Southland community are proud of watching. We have a storm week at the end of the season with three games in seven days, but we are feeling positive about it knowing that we have two of those as home games, so we will have the support of the Southland community behind us. Nothing lifts you up more than playing in front of a home crowd.”

New Zealand Rugby’s Head of Provincial Union Rugby Steve Lancaster said the Mitre 10 Cup holds a special place on the rugby calendar.

“We see it every year, these competitions highlight incredible talent and produce great rugby. Last year Asafo Aumua went from playing for the Wellington Lions, to making his All Blacks debut only weeks later. Examples like that demonstrate the quality of the Mitre 10 Cup competition.

“We saw in throughout the 2017 season that this competition is in good health and it continues to be an important competition to rugby fans in our country,” said Lancaster.

Season memberships will go on sale in May with game day tickets available in July.

Season at a glance:

   Date                                           Game                                     Kick Off                  Venue

Sun 19th August                 Southland v Hawkes Bay                4.35pm                Rugby Park, Invercargill

Sun 26th August                Southland v Tasman                       2.05pm              Blenheim

Fri 31st August                    Southland v Wellington                  7.35pm               Wellington

Sat 8th September             Southland v Counties Manukau  2.05pm                Rugby Park, Invercargill

Sat 15th September          Southland v Otago                           4.35pm                Rugby Park, Invercargill

Thurs 20th September     Southland v Northland                   7.35pm                Toll Stadium, Whangarei

Sat 29th September          Southland v Waikato                       2.35pm                FMG Stadium, Waikato

Sun 7th October                 Southland v Bay of Plenty              2.05pm                Rugby Park, Invercargill

Wed 10th October             Southland v Auckland                     7.35pm                Rugby Park, Invercargill

Sun 14th October               Southland v Manawatu                  4.35pm                Palmerston North