Mitre 10 Cup teams will look to give back this week as the competition celebrates Charity Week.

Each Provincial Union hosting a match over the next five days will run a variety of activities in recognition and support of their chosen charities.

“Our provincial unions are involved in a number of amazing charity ventures and we’re hoping that the wider community will be able to see that throughout the course of this week.

“Several Unions have strong charity and community programmes throughout their season, but by aligning them for week seven it will hopefully raise some much-needed awareness for these organisations,” said Head of Provincial Union Rugby Steve Lancaster. 

The Northland Taniwha kick off Week Seven action tonight with students from Tikipunga and Otangarei schools performing a charity single created for the I Have a Dream organisation.

Northland Rugby will be running collections at the gates and Taniwha players have visited both schools throughout the season.

The Taranaki Bulls team is putting its weight behind local charity the Taranaki Cancer Society for tomorrow’s night’s fixture against Tasman.

Members of the Taranaki Cancer Society will attend Captain’s Run and speak to the team while collections will also be held at ground.

North Harbour is set to don a one-off jersey to support the Tania Dalton Foundation in their match against Hawke’s Bay. Dalton, a former Silver Fern, was a long-standing member of the Harbour community and the team is raising funds by auctioning the captain's jersey and donating profits from ticket sales.
 
Southland will continue support of the Ronald McDonald House and Cancer Society on Saturday afternoon. The Stags will visit the House to meet patients and families on Friday while a bucket donation at the match will raise funds for the Cancer Society.

Auckland Rugby is partnering with major sponsor Barfoot & Thompson to align with Starship Hospital at their match against Bay of Plenty on Saturday.

Starship ambassador and former All Black and Auckland stalwart Keven Mealamu will be at the match signing his illustrated books with proceeds going to the hospital, while the hospital’s mascot Captain Starship will be on hand to help with donation collections at the gate. Barfoot & Thompson is donating $2000 for every Auckland try scored and $1000 for every successful Auckland penalty.

Defending champions Canterbury is continuing a long-standing association with the New Zealand Spinal Trust at their Ranfurly Shield defence against Waikato. The match coincides with the Trust’s first ever annual appeal.

Meanwhile, the Wellington Lions have announced their plans to boost their existing support for the Wellington Children’s Hospital.

In addition to wearing a special charity jersey to be auctioned after the game, Wellington has partnered with the Village Gold Smiths to produce a Bravery Coin; this too will be auctioned off after being used for the official coin toss on Saturday.

Counties Manukau close out the weekend by hosting Northland and will recognise the work of New Zealand Rugby Foundation as their charity.

Match programmes will be distributed for a gold coin donation with proceeds going to the Foundation, while other donation opportunities will also be available at ground. A raffle in the sponsors lounge with a TV donated by Panasonic will also raise valuable funds for the organisation.