New Zealand Heartland XV

rdf:langString New Zealand Heartland XV

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rdf:langString TBA

rdf:langString Nigel Walsh

rdf:langString New Zealand

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rdf:langString New Zealand Rugby Union

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rdf:langString The Heartland XV is one of several New Zealand representative rugby union teams, although it is at a lower level than the All Blacks and the Māori All Blacks. The side is drawn exclusively from players for provincial unions that compete in the Heartland Championship, a nominally amateur domestic competition below the fully professional Mitre 10 Cup. Founded in 1988 and originally known as the New Zealand Divisional XV, it was designed to expose players from Divisions Two and Three in the Air New Zealand National Provincial Championship (NPC) to rugby at a higher level. Upon the 2006 reorganisation of the NPC into the Air New Zealand Cup and Heartland Championship, the side was revamped into a Heartland-only side and received its current name. The first New Zealand Heartland XV side toured the Pacific Islands in 2005 and they played six games (which they won), including matches against Tonga and Fiji. Since then the team has toured Argentina in 2006 and the United States in 2008, beating the Pacific Coast Grizzlies and a USA Select XV. (The Divisional XV had previously toured Fiji in 1995 and 2004, and Cook Islands in 1988.)