The Heartland Championship, which was created as part of the New Zealand Rugby Union's wide-ranging Competitions Review, kicked off in August 2006 and features 12 teams.

The provincial teams are Buller, East Coast, Horowhenua Kapiti, King Country, Mid Canterbury, North Otago, Poverty Bay, South Canterbury, Thames Valley, Wairarapa Bush, Wanganui and West Coast.

The Heartland Championship uses a two-pool round-robin competition, after which the teams are divided into two streams, with the top six teams competing for the Meads Cup and the remaining six teams competing for the Lochore Cup. Each of the two streams - Meads Cup and Lochore Cup - play a round-robin followed by a finals round, including semifinal and final matches.

The teams in Pool A of the 2010 Heartland Championship are Wanganui, South Canterbury, Horowhenua Kapiti, West Coast, King Country and Thames Valley. The teams in Pool B are Mid Canterbury, Poverty Bay, Wairarapa Bush, North Otago, Buller and East Coast.

Pools were based on seedings at the end of the 2009 Heartland Championship.

The 2010 Heartland Championship begins on Saturday 28 August and the Meads Cup and Lochore Cups finals will take place on Saturday 30 October.