The New Zealand Rugby League 2021 National Competition will start this weekend without the Counties Manukau Stingrays and the other Auckland-based teams.
The COVID-19 outbreak of the past six weeks has forced some changes, including a new regional pool system that will allow the Auckland teams to play catch-up.
The competition has seen the amalgamation of both the Premiership and Championship and has created a Northern Men pool consisting of the Stingrays, Akarana Falcons and Auckland Vulcans.
The Central Men division sees the Waikato Mana, Mid Central Vipers, Upper Central Stallions and Wellington Orcas square off while the South Island Men features the Southland Rams, West Coast Chargers, Otago Whalers and Canterbury Bulls.
If the Auckland region moves to Level 2 when the government next announces any changes to the current Alert Levels on Monday October 4, they will re-join the competition. If Auckland does not drop down Alert Levels they will unfortunately be forced out of the competition.
The women’s competition has been split into Northern Women and Central Women with the same plan as the men’s competition.
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