KEY POINTS:
France will bring their best players for a two-test series against the All Blacks next year and guarantee to finish their club championship early in 2010.
A double-booking at Stade Francais has forced the Top 14 final to be played on June 6 next year, despite the French national union signing an agreement in Woking last year to end club football by May.
The French are due to play the All Blacks on June 13 and 20 and coach Marc Lievremont previously said he would not take any players to New Zealand who feature in the club final.
But the New Zealand Rugby Union have written confirmation from the French that the best side will travel - including players involved in the final.
"What they are going to do is fly out in separate groups," said NZRU chief executive Steve Tew.
"We have written confirmation that is their plan and it makes sense. It is not dissimilar to what we did in 2006 when one group flew to Argentina while the other played a test against Ireland at Eden Park.
"We also have it in writing that they will end their club championship before June in 2010 and 2011. My sense is they are very serious and committed to honouring the Woking agreement."
That news has greatly encouraged the NZRU who were concerned that despite promises, several major unions were not serious about restoring the integrity of test football.
Resurrection of debate on a more formal competition around the June and November test windows has also eased concerns.
A world series concept is back on the table with Northern Hemisphere support for a Top 10 competition involving the Tri Nations, Six Nations and Argentina.
"I am not across the details yet," said Tew. "There is some correspondence in my in-box but we are generally supportive of any concept where the integrity of the June and November test windows is preserved."
While international progress has been encouraging, the domestic scene is still challenging.
Northland and Tasman have won a reprieve but viewing figures for the Air New Zealand Cup show how hard it will be for provinces financially in 2009.
The NZRU has agreed to persevere with a 14-team competition but has said all unions will be subject to rigorous, annual financial checks. Any union failing to meet the criteria will be axed with the NZRU adamant it will no longer offer soft loans and financial bail-outs.
Just how tough it is going to be to engage fans and attract sponsors is illustrated by an alarming decline in TV audiences, which are down almost 50 per cent on 2006. AC Nielsen figures show the average audience for Air New Zealand Cup games in 2008 is just 77,000 which compares with 101,000 last year and 137,000 in 2006.
When Bay of Plenty played Counties on August 9, just 29,000 people watched, a new low for the competition. The previous low was 33,000 when Counties played Taranaki last year.
When average audiences fell 25 per cent last year it was understandable as the World Cup was being played at the same time.
"The figures are disappointing," said Tew, "and they show how much work we have to do. We accept that with games on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday there is an awful lot of rugby but, that said, we could do better."
