Rugby: Seventh heaven or hell

Lelia Masaga. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The race to finish in the top seven of the ITM Cup has seen some unions aggressively recruit players - but it's not without risk.

The finishing order of the 14 teams in the competition will determine which seven teams qualify for the Premiership and which seven teams will play in the Championship in 2011. This battle for a top-seven place is what some have described as the "competition within the competition" and it has shaped many unions' recruitment.

Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Southland and Hawke's Bay have been four of the most active provinces in the off-season.

Each province must fit under the new salary cap regulations, set at $1.35 million or 36 per cent of a union's commercial revenue based on audited accounts from the previous two years - whichever is the least.

Bay of Plenty, who finished seventh last year, have recruited a number of newcomers including All Black wing Lelia Masaga, former Hurricanes lock Luke Andrews, Highlanders centre Brett Mather and former Auckland halfback Taniela Moa, who was a late signing after Junior Poluleuligaga was lured back overseas. It means the Steamers could field an entire starting line-up of players with Super rugby experience.

Bay of Plenty chief executive Jeremy Curragh said their wage bill was about $1.15 million this season - up about six or seven per cent on 2009 - and it was also below36 per cent of their revenue. There is a danger if revenue drops - which would put pressure on a province's ability to meet player wages.

That could happen if provinces failed to make the top seven. "It's a risk but over the last two years we have worked really hard on getting this union back on track [financially] and have managed to lift our commercial revenue 20 per cent year on year so that has given us a bit of breathing space," Curragh said.

"We are pretty eager to be in that top seven. It's very much our focus. We have recruited with that in mind but we have also been pretty prudent in how we recruit. We have a budget that we have to stick to."

A loophole in the system allowed provinces to sign players above the $60,000 salary limit - as long as they did so before the new collective agreement came into effect on July 1.

Curragh said they had re-signed "two or three marquee players" above this amount because it was market rate at the time. "We didn't know what the [maximum] figure was going to be, plus that was their market rate and we were pretty keen to retain them," he said.

Other provinces had also signed players in this time on contracts above $60,000. "It was the same for everyone," Taranaki chief executive Mark Robinson said. "We have not done anything that any other union hasn't done or wasn't able to do."

Taranaki, who have finished eighth in both of the past two seasons, have lured Hurricanes wing David Smith, Manawatu imports Kurt Baker and Andre Taylor, Hurricanes lock James Broadhurst, former Canterbury halfback Tyson Keats and Blues centre George Pisi.

Robinson said they had spent "slightly above" the $1.2 million they were reported to have spent on salaries in 2009 and were in good shape.

"It's no secret most unions have said how important it is to be in that top seven and that's where we want to be," he said. "That's all very well as long as you remain sustainable and since the inception of the competition the NZRU have made it clear that the object of provincial unions is to manage things financially and balance that with ambition."

Robinson said the next couple of years will illustrate whether the new model works and unions remain viable. The NZRU and New Zealand Rugby Players' Association have tried to ensure the bottom seven competition remains meaningful by staging inter-division matches but it remains to be seen whether they can remain competitive both on the field and when it comes to recruitment.

"If this is not managed right, there could be a really serious issue of seven teams effectively being eliminated from that level of competition and that will pose a wider issue going into an era when we are talking Super rugby expansion," he said.

HOW IT WORKS
* The finishing order of this year's ITM Cup will be crucial. The top seven teams will qualify for the Premiership in 2011. The bottom seven will play in the Championship.

* Each team will then play all other teams in their division plus four teams from the other division and the winner of the Championship will earn promotion at the expense of the bottom-placed Premiership side.

* Opponents in the cross-division games from 2011 will be decided at a live, televised draw when provinces nominate who they want to play. This could be based on a number of things like games they think they can win, local derbies, Ranfurly Shield matches or big-ticket games to maximise earnings. All matches will carry competition points.