New Zealand Rugby has announced that all provincial representative rugby below the Mitre 10 Cup has been cancelled for 2020.

The cancellations include the 2020 Mitre 10 Heartland Championship, Jock Hobbs Memorial National U19 Tournament, TECT National Sevens Tournament and all Provincial Union representative rugby tournaments.

This excludes the Mitre 10 Cup and Farah Palmer Cup.

NZR chief executive Mark Robinson says rugby had worked together to make these difficult decisions in the best interests of the game.

‘We’ve worked together and the provincial unions have led the decision-making. This is a partnership and I acknowledge them for being willing to have these conversations and make tough decisions.

‘It’s surreal how much this has impacted everyone in just seven days and we’ve needed to act swiftly, decisively and together. We are united in what we want to achieve and that’s to secure the future of rugby. These decisions have all been about ensuring when the time comes our communities can be up and running – club, community and school rugby – as quickly as possible.’

Robinson says all the cancellations announced affect the 2020 season only, and no decisions beyond this year had been made. He added no decisions about the Mitre 10 Cup or Farah Palmer Cup have been made at this stage, either.

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