Manawatu safe after shocker

Chris Moller

Manawatu's dreadful display against fellow newcomers Tasman might have drawn frowns at the New Zealand Rugby Union, but there are no plans for a quick trip to the trap door.

They lost their opening Air New Zealand Cup game to Auckland, 41-10, which given the disparity in resources was not unexpected. But the 43-0 loss in Blenheim was a shocker, in a game where Manawatu were expected to at least be competitive.

The NZRU will have braced themselves for lopsided scores, but its chief executive, Chris Moller, said last night a "wait-and-see" policy was in place over the four unions new to the top level.

The 14 cup unions have a three-year period in which there will be no axings unless there are significant off-field problems.

"The bottom line is Manawatu have their challenges and it would be foolish to try and pretend otherwise," Moller said. "But we've always said this competition was not without risk right from the day we announced it."

Moller confirmed the union has reserved the right to withdraw a team within that three-year window, but described that as a "draconian" measure.

He said it was in place more to ensure off-field management structures and financial planning were sound rather than as a guard against below-par on-field performance.

The four newcomers - Tasman, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu and Counties Manukau - have been told their off-field work will be under the microscope.

"We want to see them get systems in place, get commercial sponsorship, make sure they are not spending too much on players so they fall into a financial hole," Moller said.

"If those things aren't right it'll undermine team performance. We want to give everybody time to demonstrate whether they can perform to the level that's required.

"There's a lot of matches to go before three years are up and we'll be looking at the longer term perspective rather than the immediate situation."

Hawkes Bay's big win over Counties in Napier yesterday means the other three unions have all had at least one respectable performance in the first three weeks.

"To date, generally speaking, we've been cautiously pleased with how things have gone," Moller added.