KEY POINTS:
A revamped 11 or 12-team national championship looks set to be the first step in a dramatic overhaul of the structure of the national game.
A 72-page discussion document has been circulated to provincial unions outlining what NZRU sees as the way forward following the failure of a 14-team competition that last year drained over $9 million from the game's coffers and took several unions to the brink of financial collapse.
The new championship will be held later in the year, fitting into a dramatically re-aligned rugby calendar.
Produced after consultation with the game's stakeholders, the NZRU's Competitions Review tables eight options for a future national championship. But only two of the options - the 11 and 12 team variants - are considered viable as the others would do little to ease the financial burden the competition places on the game.
The mooted changes may be at the "discussion document" level but the language of the report suggests the most important talking has already been done.
Future discussions will likely revolve around where each union fits into the new structure. The decision on which teams to cull from the current 14 will be based on the same criteria used when the competition was expanded. Unions will be ranked from one to 14. They will find out where they rank on July 7, with a final decision on which teams are cut to be made on September 25 or 26.
The ranking criteria include population base, player numbers, financial and on-field performance and historical contribution to the game.
Most under threat appear to be Northland, Southland, Bay of Plenty, Tasman and Manawatu. Bay of Plenty have the sixth-highest population base in the competition but have performed abysmally both on and off the field in the two years of the Air New Zealand Cup, while the rest all have smaller populations and have achieved mixed financial and on-field results.
Counties-Manukau, the worst team results-wise, could be insulated by their strong financial management and strong development programmes. Despite poor crowds, the union turned profits of over $200,000 in each of the last two years thanks to its low wage bill. Given that high player wages are seen as the root of the game's problems, it would be harsh if they were to be now punished for their sensible approach. The area is also considered strategically important thanks to its rich natural playing resources.
The NZRU will be able to use its discretion in which teams are axed but might be reluctant to do so given the sensitive nature of the exercise.
The biggest issue is what to do with the discarded teams. The Heartland Championship is widely accepted to be a success in its current format but the introduction of several stronger unions could well destroy its balance. A review of the structure of the Heartland Championship is planned.
The next few weeks appear sure to be tumultuous as threatened unions scrap for first tier survival.
The key points of the review are:
*The national championship should contain 11 or 12 teams and run over 13 weeks, constituting a full round robin followed by semifinals and a final.
*Club rugby will become sacrosanct, with unions unable to remove players from their clubs for representative duty.
*To accommodate this, the national championship will be moved later in the year, ideally starting in mid-August and finishing in the first week of November.
*The three June tests will take place during an expanded Super Rugby tournament and the rest of the test match programme will be played concurrently with the national championship, meaning most All Blacks will no longer play provincial rugby.
*Super Rugby will start later in the year, probably mid-March, and run for around 22 weeks.
*The game's pay structure is to be revised, with the contracting of Super Rugby players likely to be done by the franchises, reducing the burden on provincial unions.
*Limits would then be placed on the number of Super Rugby players allowed in each national championship side, forcing the talent to be spread evenly.
