New Zealand Rugby has confirmed a revised version of the Farah Palmer Cup will kick off on 22 August featuring a number of Black Ferns and Black Ferns Sevens players.
Black Fern and Canterbury representative Kendra Cocksedge. Photo: Photosport
The 13 teams will compete in North and South pools, with seven weeks of round robin, before two weeks of play-off matches.
NZR head of women's rugby Cate Sexton said with both the Olympics and the Rugby World Cup taking place next year the Farah Palmer Cup would provide high-quality rugby for players preparing for these tournaments.
"Notwithstanding the financial challenges of the Covid 19 pandemic, it was always our intention to make sure we had a quality competition for our female players to compete in and we are really happy with this outcome," Sexton said.
"The Provincial Unions have been working incredibly hard to establish and develop their women's high performance programmes and as the game continues to grow, this competition is an exciting showcase of the women's game."
NZR board member and former Black Ferns Captain Dr Farah Palmer, for whom the competition is named after, said the prospect of having New Zealand's best women's players in one competition would be one for fans to cherish.
"This will be an enthralling competition and just what we need as we build momentum into next year's World Cup. I have no doubt our players will want to put their best foot forward as they strive to play in the black jersey at a home World Cup," Palmer said.
The full draw for the 2020 Farah Palmer Cup will be unveiled in the coming weeks.