The Mitre 10 Cup is still known to many by the name of the competition it replaced, the National Provincial Championship, or NPC. Managed by the New Zealand Rugby Union, it might come as no surprise that the Mitre 10 Cup is the top rugby union competition in – you’ve guessed it! – New Zealand.
Here we will give you some useful information about the Mitre 10 Cup including a brief history, a look at the format and some details about the main betting markets available, including the most popular: the outright winner market. We’ve also got an odds comparison tool that you can use for your Mitre 10 Cup bets, ensuring you maximise your betting value – and hence your profits!
The Mitre 10 Cup has been called various things (due to sponsorship deals) since its inception in the 2006 season, but its current name came about for the 2016 campaign. The competition is currently run under a two-division format, the Premiership and the Championship, with each containing seven teams. Each team plays all others from the same division along with four teams from the other division over the course of a season, which generally runs from August to early November.
At the end of the round robin phase of the season, the top four sides in each division play in semi finals, with the first place side playing the one that finished fourth, and second playing third. The winners then go on to play in their divisional final.
Many of the sides who compete in the Mitre 10 Cup have long and rich histories. Indeed, the side that has won seven of 10 championships (prior to the end of the 2016 season) is Canterbury, which was established way back in 1879.
Looking to the betting markets that are available to punters, and it might seem obvious to say it, but the most popular market is the outright winner market, that is betting on the side that will ultimately win the Mitre Cup. You can choose to back the outright winner of the competition – as with most sports and tournaments – either before the start of a given season or once the action has got underway. Our odds comparison tool can help you whenever you bet on. We trawl through the various bookies’ prices and highlight the best odds for any given market, thus allowing you to claim the best value with next to no fuss.
Other betting markets that are popular generally revolve around individual matches. For instance, you can of course bet on which side will win a particular game – or indeed if you think it will end as a draw. Then there are lots of other options, as you will find in most big rugby union (or league) matches.
You could opt to bet on the handicap markets, whereby you back a side who has been given a certain number of points advantage or disadvantage. This can be a useful market to utilise for matches that involve a strong favourite. Another option is the half time/full time market which allows you to bet on which side will be ahead at half time and then at full time, with various combinations available.
With first tryscorer, anytime tryscorer, winning margin, first scoring play, race to 10 points and a whole host of other betting markets available, you’ll have lots of options when betting with a decent bookie. So while the choice of betting market is in your hands, take the hassle away by using our odds comparison tool!