RUGBY: Teams to stay in their divisions

SHANE HURNDELL
Takapau Rugby Club's chairman Jimmy Churchward was exaggerating a little but the elation was definitely there.
"It's a wonder you didn't hear the yelling up in Hastings from last night's training ... the boys were stoked," Churchward said this morning.
He was referring to the fact his club's only afternoon grade side and Eskview had won the right to retain their division two status at a Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union special clubs competition meeting in Napier on Wednesday night.
"It would have been the end of our senior club and probably our five primary school teams if we had been unsuccessful," Churchward said.
His club had sourced sponsorship which was based on their senior team playing in division two. Eskview club captain Jeremy Bateman had similar fears before Wednesday night's meeting.
Earlier this year he was told his club may have to remain in division three despite earning promotion last year after four years of trying. Representatives of both clubs got together on Tuesday night to plan their attack for Wednesday night's meeting and both Bateman and Churchward were rapt with the way the clubs worked together.
"At Wednesday night's meeting the majority of the clubs supported us. I've got to thank the assistance we got from Taradale who helped fine tune our proposals and Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union board member Brendan Mahony who outlined the pros and cons well," said Bateman.
"With a division two team our colts players have something to strive for. We would have lost players if our division two side had to drop back down to division three and we didn't want that in our jubilee year," Bateman added referring to Eskview's 75th jubilee which will be staged at Labour Weekend.
The club season will begin on March 31. There will be 10 teams in the premier division which will play two full rounds (home and away) Nash Cup for the first round and Maddison Trophy in the second round with semifinals and a final.
Fourteen teams will play in the first round of division two. They will be divided into two sections of seven ranked on last year's placings with crossover semifinals before the final.
The second round will involve 10 teams in a round robin followed by semifinals and a final with the bottom four teams playing in the second round of division three.
Division three will start with a seven-team round robin followed by semifinals and a final and then an 11-team second round followed by a semifinal and final.
Sixteen clubs were represented at the meeting and two, Napier Old Boys Marist and Hastings Rugby and Sports, voted against the format.
Delegates were told there will be no promotion-relegation this year and there will be a clubs meeting nine weeks into the competition to look at formats for next year so club have some idea of where they need to place themselves for next season.