KEY POINTS:
Some provincial unions are on tenterhooks as they wait to be told if they are going to be one of two teams redundant to next year's Air NZ Cup rugby championship.
The New Zealand Rugby Union announced today that the top tier of its premier domestic competition would feature 12 teams instead of 14 from 2009.
However, the teams for next year's competition remained shrouded with the NZRU saying this would be revealed once the current 14 Air NZ Cup teams had been informed by August 12.
The chief executives of Counties-Manukau, Tasman, Manawatu and Bay of Plenty who spoke to NZPA today said they were generally supportive of the restructure, particularly the reduction of the salary cap, currently set at $2 million.
"But I won't be taking any calls from the NZRU over the next couple of days," one of them quipped.
Northland, another of the unions thought to be under most threat of being cut, did not return calls today.
Another major change outlined in NZRU's "draft final report" is that the competition will link with its Heartland second-tier competition through promotion and relegation.
The NZRU board who ticked off the review on Saturday said a salary cap would be retained because it was needed to encourage spread of talent and manage costs.
But it wants to reduce it and consider a limit on the number of players each provincial union can contract.
The Ranfurly Shield format has been tweaked to see the holders have to defend it in every match once they get through four successful defences at home.
The Air NZ Cup, which will start in mid-August after a "protected club season", will return to a round-robin format followed by semifinals and a final.
The promotion-relegation fixture will be between the bottom-placed Air NZ Cup team and the top team from the Heartland Championship.
Much of the changes see the championship return to the previous structure that was replaced two years ago when it was expanded from 10 teams with the inclusion of Tasman, Manawatu, Counties-Manukau and Hawke's Bay.
Tasman's Peter Barr conceded that his union, which has sold Lansdowne Park to pay off over $3 million in debts, could be at risk of demotion.
"It's fair to say we are probably under threat ...
"(However) if we are not part of it, it will have a significant detrimental effect on rugby in the region."
Being excluded would signal the break-up of the merger between the Marlborough and Nelson Bays unions which produced Tasman.
"Whether we are one of two unions (after this), they are going to lose a lot of talent because the talent won't want to stay to play just Heartland rugby and it will perpetuate a vicious cycle," Barr said.
Manawatu union chief executive Hayden Smith was positive about his union's chances of staying in the top 12.
Other than in playing criteria where it was 13th last season, Manawatu ranked higher than 12 in all other aspects such as its stadium, a professional development structure, a strong academy programme and a governance and management system he said was a template of excellence for sport in this country, not just rugby.
Counties-Manukau acting chief executive Bevan Brown, in the job just for one week, said the union would take the time to study and make further submissions if necessary.
"I guess there is that little bit of fear (we will be dropped), we are just trying to be positive and hoping like everyone else that we will be part of the 12."
Bay of Plenty are among the worst financial performers, having lost $760,000 last year, and have laid off most of their core development staff. But they have the most registered players.
Interim chief executive Jeremy Curragh said the union had made significant changes in recent months to get back its footing.
NZRU chief executive Steve Tew said the aim was to produce a better competition and "eliminate the sustainability issues that have challenged us with the current format".
- NZPA
