| 2022 Heartland Championship | |
| Date: | – |
| Countries: |  New Zealand |
| Champion Other: | South Canterbury (Meads Cup) East Coast (Lochore Cup) |
| Runnerup Other: | Whanganui (Meads Cup) Mid Canterbury (Lochore Cup) |
| Matches: | 54 |
| Preceded By: | 2021 |
| Succeeded By: | 2023 |
The 2022 Heartland Championship, was the 16th edition of the Heartland Championship, a rugby union competition involving the twelve amateur provincial unions in New Zealand.
The tournament began with a round-robin stage in which the twelve teams played eight games each, from which the top four advanced to the Meads Cup semifinals, while fifth to eighth advanced to the Lochore Cup semifinals. In both of these knockout stages the top seeds (first and fifth) played at home against the lowest seeds (fourth and eighth), the second highest seeds (second and sixth) played at home against the third highest seeds (third and seventh) and the final featured the higher seed playing at home against the lower seed.
The 2022 Heartland Championship was contested by the following teams:
In the regular season, South Canterbury topped the standings with 39 points after winning all eight games.[1]
| Team | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 368 | 122 | +246 | 7 | 0 | 39 | ||
| 2 | Whanganui | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 352 | 142 | +210 | 7 | 1 | 36 | |
| 3 | Thames Valley | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 247 | 189 | +58 | 5 | 2 | 27 | |
| 4 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 218 | 201 | +17 | 3 | 2 | 25 | ||
| 5 | North Otago | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 315 | 201 | +114 | 5 | 2 | 23 | |
| 6 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 218 | 298 | -80 | 3 | 1 | 20 | ||
| 7 | East Coast | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 155 | 242 | -87 | 2 | 0 | 18 | |
| 8 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 214 | 249 | -35 | 4 | 2 | 18 | ||
| 9 | Buller | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 216 | 386 | -170 | 5 | 0 | 17 | |
| 10 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 183 | 242 | -59 | 3 | 1 | 16 | ||
| 11 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 199 | 297 | -98 | 3 | 2 | 13 | ||
| 12 | West Coast | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 185 | 301 | -116 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Meads Cup qualification | ||
| Lochore Cup qualification |
In the Meads Cup the top placegetter plays at their home ground against the fourth team while the second placed team plays at home against the third. In the Lochore Cup the fifth placegetter plays at their home ground against the eighth team while the sixth placed team plays at home against the seventh. The winning semi-finalists then meet in the respective finals for each Cup, played at the home-ground of the team ranked highest in the regular season.
In the 2022 season South Canterbury set a record for the most points (491), tries (69) and conversions (46). They were a class above the opposition winning their semi-final 76–9 over King Country and the final by 47–36 over Whanganui.[2] [3] [4]
The 47 points scored by South Canterbury in the final was also a record as was Sam Briggs individual total of 22.
North Otago finished the regular season 5th and therefore top qualifier for the Lochore Cup. However, they lost at home 15–31 to Mid Canterbury in their semi-final. East Coast upset Horowhenua-Kapiti 37–30 at Levin.
East Coast then beat Mid Canterbury by 25–20 in the final. It was the first Lochore Cup title for East Coast. They become the 6th team to have won both the Meads Cup and the Lochore Cup.[5]