RUGBY - Peters fights for Northland in battle over cup revamp

Northland Rugby Union (NRU) chairman Wayne Peters is promising a battle royal as threatened unions prepare to scrap for first-tier survival in a dramatic revamp of the national provincial competition next season.
Northland is one of four first division unions under threat as the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) looks to reformat the provincial scene in an attempt to revive interest, cut costs and redesign the competition to fit into a dramatically re-aligned rugby calendar.
But Peters is determined to keep the province in the top division when Northland present their case to the NZRU in September, starting with a robust debate on the NZRU competitions review discussion document released at the weekend.
"I don't think Northland can rely on our history any more. We have got to bank on our position for the future. I expect historical issues will work in our favour but it would not be advisable to rely on historical issues alone," Peters said.
"Our position will need to be based on what we can create for the future in the changing face of New Zealand rugby," he said.
Faced with massive cost over-runs and a confusing player contracting system, the NZRU is advocating trimming the Air NZ Cup competition from 14 to 11 teams, moving the competition start from July to late August, and radically cutting the player salary cap from more then $2 million to a more manageable target close to $1 million.
Peters said that, while the discussion document did not address some fundamental issues he thinks are affecting the provincial game, it was a comprehensive document that would give clear targets for the NRU to meet.
"The key to us is not the competition itself but the costs associated with it, primarily the cost of players. If the costs of players could be accommodated in a way that is affordable, then fine," he said.
"In 2005 we all agreed to go into this competition, which we all thought was sustainable. But ... it is not sustainable in its current form.
"One thing I think the review didn't necessarily clarify is that - to have a competition - then any side in the competition must be capable of winning it. If you have a situation where nine teams cannot win it then to my mind you have a flawed competition. That to me is an over riding principle that we do not have in the Air NZ Cup right now."
The 72-page discussion document circulated to provincial unions outlines what NZRU sees as the way forward following the failure of the 14-team competition that last year drained over $9 million from the game's coffers and took several unions to the brink of financial collapse.
Future discussions will likely revolve around where each union fits into the new structure. The decision on which teams to cull from the current 14 will be based on the same criteria used when the competition was expanded in 2005.
Unions will be ranked from one to 14. They will find out where they rank on July 7, with a final decision on which teams are cut to be made on September 25 or 26.
The ranking criteria include population base, player numbers, financial and on-field performance and historical contribution.
Most under threat appear to be Northland, Southland, Bay of Plenty, Tasman and Manawatu. Bay of Plenty have the sixth-highest population base in the competition but have performed abysmally both on and off the field in the two years of the Air New Zealand Cup, while the rest all have smaller populations and have achieved mixed financial and on-field results. Northland are ranked ninth.