The Farah Palmer Cup will boast 13 teams this season with the inclusion of Northland. Teams play their rivals in their own division in a round-robin, with the championship teams advancing to quarterfinals and the premiership teams going straight to semifinal action. New Zealand Rugby's chief rugby officer Nigel Cass said the growth of the Farah Palmer Cup mirrors the surge in interest in the women's game. "We've seen women's rugby go from strength to strength in recent years and it is great to see the Farah Palmer Cup continuing to develop and give our players meaningful competition. "In the past two weeks we have seen six players from the Farah Palmer Cup make their Black Ferns debut over in the USA which should be a big motivator for players stepping out in their provincial colours later this year."

Source: Stuff July 09, 2019 05:37 UTC