Farah Palmer Cup kicks off in New Zealand

Photo: Lydia Crossman/Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images AsiaPac

The Farah Palmer Cup will feature nine provincial representative teams from across the country. The competition will span seven rounds and include semi-finals on Saturday 24 September and conclude with a final on Saturday 1 October.

The teams are Auckland Storm; Bay of Plenty Volcanix; Counties Manukau Heat; Canterbury; North Harbour; Manawatu Cyclones; Otago Spirit; Waikato and the Wellington Pride. Auckland, the current champs, having won the title 15 times since 2009.

Apart from those in Rio, all of  players likely to be competing for a place in New Zealand’s World Cup squad will be taking part in this competition. (Squad lists).

If the rest of New Zealand is intending to stop a 16thAuckland win then they had a bad start when last weekend’s first round saw the champions knock-over one of their biggest rivals and 2015 runners-up, Wellington, 34-27. The only positive for the visitors was that they picked up a loser's bonus point, but Auckland have now extended head-to-head to 23 win in 25 fixtures since 1999. It was also closer than last year’s final between the two team which Auckland won 39-9.

Wellington also lead 20-15 at half-time, with the boot of Amanda Rasch making the difference between the two teams who had scored three tries each. However in the second period Auckland racked up four more scores to just one for the visitors. Fern hooker  Fiao'o Fa'amausili and Fern flanker Lydia Crossman both touched down twice, suggesting that the power of the Auckland pack was decisive.

Counties Manukau beat Waikato in a “derby” game in Hamilton. Waikato have been one of the success stories in recent years, having won four of the last five games between the teams, but Counties were on form scoring five tries and shutting their hosts and local rivals out 29-0

Manawatu overturned Otago in similar style. With only one win the past nine fixtures between the teams, a Selica Winiata hat-trick set them on the way to a 32-5 win.

North Harbour were also in great form at Bay of Plenty with a five tries to one win over their hosts, picking up a a bonus in their 31-11 win.

Results:

Auckland 34 (Onjeurlina Leiataua, Charmaine McMenamin, Lydia Crossman 2, Fiao'o Fa'amausili 2 tries; Emma Jensen 2 con) Wellington Pride 27 (Joanah Ngan-Woo, Fa'asua Makisi, Acacia Te Iwimate tries; Amanda Rasch 3 con, 2 pen). HT: 15-20

Manawatu 32 (Selica Winiata 3, Nicci Kuita tries; Krysten Duffill 3 con, 2 pen) Otago 5 (Nicole Kennedy try).

Waikato 0 Counties Manukau 29 (Aroha Savage, Arihiana Marino, Victoria Subristsky-Nafatali, Renee Wickliffe, Langi Veanu tries; Hazel Tubic 2 con). HT 0-12.

Bay of Plenty 11 (Mystery McLean-Kora try; Billie Raynes 2 pen) North Harbour 31 (Rina Paraone, Florida Fatanitivake, Briar McNamara, Claudia McMeekin, Jemma Palmer tries; Chelsea Alley 3 con).