KEY POINTS:
Of all the things said and done by the New Zealand Rugby Union this year, the most irksome was their claim that the provincial review, which achieved precisely nothing, was an entirely valid and worthwhile exercise.
The provincial unions met in March for a summit that under no circumstances was allowed to be called a summit in case anyone should think it was a summit, which it was. At the summit that never was, it was agreed to empower the NZRU to make change - to review the current situation through research and consultation, suggest a preferred solution and then implement the plan.
Everything went swimmingly until the implementation part. The review team did their research and recommended the 2009 competition have only 11 or 12 teams. All 14 unions had been assessed across six categories to give them a final ranking.
The board agreed with the recommendation - settling on 12 teams - and in early August it was announced Northland and Tasman had finished 13th and 14th in the assessable criteria.
At that stage, the NZRU said neither Northland nor Tasman would be invited to play in the provincial championship next year. Both unions would have an opportunity to make written and verbal submissions in response but it was categorical - the board was convinced a 12-team competition was the best outcome.
And yet, this week, it was confirmed that the 2009 provincial competition will have 14 teams - with invitations having been extended to Northland and Tasman to join the party.
So what happened - why did the board have a vision one month and then change it the next? Were they really persuaded to change their minds on the back of a well-written submission and a nice piece of oratory from Northland chairman Wayne Peters?
The board had a document, as they did in 2005, that said 12 teams was the best number for the sustainability of the competition. And just as happened three years ago, the final decision was to go with 14.
Chief executive Steve Tew said he was surprised at the level of passion shown in both Northland and Tasman when they learned of their fate in July.
Really - he was surprised that on learning they were going to be turned into rugby wastelands, people in Whangarei and Nelson didn't take the news lying down?
What did the NZRU think was going to happen? Everyone else knew the reaction would be strong and heated. That was inevitable, so why would a predictable response suddenly mean the strategic vision was wrong and 14 teams was the optimum number for the Air New Zealand Cup?
The conviction of the NZRU board has to be questioned if all it took to budge them from believing in 12 teams was a 10-minute Power Point presentation.
There has to be more to it. Did the review team produce a flawed document that would not have stood up to legal scrutiny had Northland and/or Tasman contested their fate in court?
Certainly in Northland's submission there was reference to factual error having been made in the research and - the Herald on Sunday saw every submission - there was widespread discontent that at times assumptions had been made.
There was also much upset that the assessable criteria was suddenly changed during the process to remove an arbitrary ruling about minimum population and to award extra points for unions that had developed All Blacks.
It might be that the NZRU board lost faith in the review process and felt they were no longer on safe ground cutting the division to 12 teams.
If that's the case, the whole process clearly wasn't worthwhile. It was a waste of time and money because Tasman and Northland would obviously react badly to being dumped.
It was a waste of time and money because why go to the trouble of making a recommendation only for the board to ignore it?
In the corporate world, it really isn't the done thing to go against the recommendation reached by people commissioned to come up with that recommendation. There has to be a powerful rationale to reject and that rationale then must be clearly communicated.
And it was a waste of time and money because everyone agreed in March that there had to be change and little has changed.
We still have 14 teams. The salary cap is expected to stay about the same level and only be gradually reduced.
At the end of nine months of research and debate, the only difference next year will be the re-introduction of a genuine round-robin where every team will play every team before the playoffs.
The NZRU thinks that was a worthwhile exercise. No one else does.
