• Auckland begins the campaign at home against North Harbour
• Canterbury comes to town midway through the competition
• Auckland will face four Premiership sides in their final six fixtures

Our champion Mitre 10 Cup side will open their 2019 campaign against North Harbour in what promises to be an exciting opening weekend local derby at Eden Park.

Neighbours North Harbour are then followed six days later by Northland in Whangarei in a replica fixture from the 2018 season. Championship side Bay of Plenty then follow at home before newly promoted Waikato and their plethora of cow bells will welcome the blue and white hoops to Hamilton.

Arguably the stand-out fixture of the round-robin season then comes against Canterbury at the Garden of Eden. This is a game likely to be full of added feeling considering the result last time out between the two sides and could well be the game that decides home finals fixtures come the pointy end of the competition.

The final five games of the regular see away fixtures against Counties Manukau, Tasman and relegated Taranaki. Southland and Wellington will both venture North in that time as the season winds down and play-off spots can swing on a single result.

The delivered draw means that a fast start is a must, and early wins on the board crucial with four Premiership sides to face in the last six games alone.

“We came into 2018 as somewhat of an unknown quantity, the team and coaches. We’re very much in the headlights now and with winning comes expectation and elements of pressure” said Head Coach Alama Ieremia.

“In saying that, we learned a lot from last year’s campaign and are excited about the challenge again. There’s always plenty to improve on and we are no different.”