Counties Manukau and Tasman will play some of their Air New Zealand Cup home matches at Growers Stadium and Trafalgar Park respectively, the New Zealand Rugby Union confirmed today.

The Steelers’ day games at Growers Stadium in Pukekohe will be against Auckland on 3 August, Hawke’s Bay on 14 September and Manawatu on 20 September. The Makos will play two games at Trafalgar Park in Nelson, against Taranaki on 17 August and Otago on 13 September.

The Air New Zealand Cup kicks off later this month with a Thursday-Friday double double header.  On Thursday 31 July, Tasman will host Bay of Plenty and Northland are at home to Waikato. Taranaki will meet North Harbour and Wellington is home to Hawke’s Bay in simultaneous matches on the Friday night, 1 August.

The schedule leaves the opening Saturday night free of Air New Zealand Cup action as the All Blacks take on the Wallabies in a Bledisloe Cup and Philips Tri Nations Test at Eden Park, Auckland.

Both the Thursday and Friday night double headers will be televised live simultaneously on SKY Sport on separate channels then repeated on alternate channels straight after the live broadcast.

Canterbury v Manawatu, Southland v Otago and Counties Manukau v Auckland complete the action in week one.

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