Rugby: Union to meet and work out next plan

An independent investigation into the Northland Rugby Union's [NRU] senior competitions is complete.

An independent investigation into internal dysfunction within one of the Northland Rugby Union's [NRU] senior competitions is complete, with officials hoping to release a summary of the results as soon as next week.

Conducted by New Zealand Order of Merit and Queens Service Medal recipient Graham Lowe, an inquest into the Southern Districts Division II competition was sparked by the NRU after several Division II clubs threatened to leave the competition if issues surrounding the Whangaruru RFC, and the club's affiliations with patched Head Hunters gang members, weren't resolved before the 2016 season.

The competition and circumstances around teams defaulting to the Whangaruru RFC formed a major focus of the review.

NRU chief executive Jeremy Parkinson received a report of the review last Friday.

He said the next step would involve his board meeting today to discuss the report's findings.

The NRU board will then decide on a way forward.

The review involved individual meetings with all nine clubs in the competition and the report was compiled by Lowe and Auckland barrister Alan Webb, who rang Parkinson to offer his services after he heard an interview on the radio regarding the upheaval within the Division II competition.