Provincial rugby’s Mitre 10 Cup will start on September 11 and run for 12 weeks, NZ Rugby confirmed in a revised draw released on Thursday.
North Harbour will host Canterbury in Albany in the Friday night competition opener, with NZR canning Thursday night matches of past seasons.
The usual seven matches per round will be played across a weekend, with two clashing 2.05pm kickoffs on Sunday afternoons.
Northland v Manawatu at Whangarei, and Taranaki v Bay of Plenty at Inglewood will be the first simultaneous afternoon matches in round one on Sunday, September 13.
Defending premiership champions Tasman open their campaign against Counties-Manukau at Pukekohe on September 12 at 7.05pm.
NZR said in a statement that rightsholder Sky TV committed to broadcasting two matches a week free-to-air on Prime, but did not say whether these would be live or delayed.
The premiership and championship semifinals will be played on November 20 and 21, with the respective finals on November 27 and 28.
NZR head of professional rugby Chris Lendrum said with the renewed enthusiasm around rugby it was another important step to have confirmation of the Mitre 10 Cup calendar.
“We have seen a real surge in interest in Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa in the past few weeks and have confidence that it will continue through to Mitre 10 Cup which is a special competition in our rugby landscape.
