 Waikato were placed in the Premiership for 2011 and won seven of their ten games including wins over Canterbury (Christchurch) Wellington (Waikato Stadium) and Auckland (Waikato Stadium).Their only blight was losing to Bay of Plenty 8–36 in Rotorua and to Manawatu 20–54 in Palmerston North.They reach the ITM Cup final, but lost to Canterbury 3–12 at Waikato Stadium.