2014 Heartland Championship
The 2014 Heartland Championship was the ninth edition of the Heartland Championship, a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur rugby unions in New Zealand. The tournament involved a round-robin stage in which the twelve teams played eight games each and then the top four advanced to the Meads Cup semifinals, while fifth to eighth advanced to the Lochore Cup semifinals. In both of these knockout stages the top seeds played at home against the lowest seeds, the second highest seeds played at home against the third highest seeds and the final had the higher seed play at home against the lower seed.
Teams
The 2014 Heartland Championship will be contested by the following teams.| Team | Super Rugby partner | Hometown | Home stadium | Capacity | |
| Buller | Crusaders | Westport | Victoria Square | 5,000 | |
| East Coast | Hurricanes | Ruatoria | Whakarua Park | 3,000 | |
| Horowhenua-Kapiti | Hurricanes | Levin | Levin Domain | 6,500 | |
| King Country | Chiefs | Taupo | Owen Delany Park | 20,000 | |
| Mid Canterbury | Crusaders | Ashburton | Ashburton Showgrounds | 5,000 | |
| North Otago | Highlanders | Oamaru | Whitestone Contracting Stadium | 7,000 | |
| Poverty Bay | Hurricanes | Gisborne | More FM Rugby Park | 18,000 | |
| South Canterbury | Crusaders | Timaru | Alpine Energy Stadium | 12,000 | |
| Thames Valley | Chiefs | Paeroa | Paeroa Domain | 3,000 | |
| Wairarapa Bush | Hurricanes | Masterton | Trust House Memorial Park | 10,000 | |
| Wanganui | Hurricanes | Wanganui | Cooks Gardens | 15,000 | |
| West Coast | Crusaders | Greymouth | Rugby Park | 6,000 |
Pre-season
Two Heartland Championship teams, Thames Valley and Mid Canterbury, challenged Counties Manukau for the Ranfurly Shield in two matches that took place in at Counties Manukau's home ground, ECOLight Stadium in Pukekohe.Standings
| Meads Cup, Heartland Championship and ITM Cup Championship qualification | |
| Lochore Cup qualification |
In the case of a two-team tie on points the ranking of teams is decided by:
- the winner of the round robin match between the two provinces; then
- highest point difference; then
- most tries scored; then
- a coin toss.
- the province with the most wins against other tied provinces in the Round Robin; then
- if two teams remain tied they shall be ranked according to the criteria listed above, but if more than two teams remain tied, they shall be ranked according to criteria to only.
Round by round
| Offensive | Defensive |
Points scorers
Updated: 10 June 2014Regular season
The schedule of fixtures was released on 3 April 2014.Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Finals
Semifinals
;Meads Cup;Lochore Cup
Finals
;Meads Cup;Lochore Cup