Makos' 2016 opponents revealed
The Tasman Makos' opponents in the round robin section of next season's national provincial rugby championship have been decided.
The Makos will play their six premiership rivals once, plus four cross-over games against teams from the championship division. In 2016 Tasman will meet North Harbour, Otago, Southland and Northland from the lower echelon.
Late last week the 14 NPC unions chose their opposition for the compulsory cross-over encounters.
Harbour and Tasman were drawn together through the NZRU's automatic selection process which is based on seedings from the previous year. Tasman finished as third seed in the premiership with Harbour ranked fifth in the championship.
In the second round, where championship teams are able to select a premiership opponent to play at home, Otago chose Tasman.
Following that, with premiership teams selecting a championship opponent to play at home, Tasman went for Southland.
The final cross-over selection, where a championship side chooses a premiership rival to play away from home, Northland opted for the Makos.
In 2015 Tasman met North Harbour, Otago, Wellington and Bay of Plenty in cross-over matches, winning them all.
The 2016 NPC begins on August 18, with the finals scheduled for October 28-29.
Tasman's 2016 opponents are: Canterbury, Auckland, Taranaki, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Hawke's Bay, North Harbour, Otago, Southland and Northland.
Dates and venues will be decided over the next few months.
Leon MacDonald, Makos' head coach for 2016, said he was "pretty happy with what we got, we can't complain", but was keen to see how the home and away draw for their matches against premiership rivals came out before evaluating their overall draw.
