Turbos likely for Thursday debut

Manawatu and Southland have volunteered to be Thursday night guinea pigs. Both unions say they would be happy to host games outside the traditional weekend window rather than take the graveyard slot of 12.30pm on a Sunday.

The willingness of those two unions to trial Thursday nights has afforded the New Zealand Rugby Union a solution to what was looming as an uncomfortable standoff with the provinces.

For the next three weeks, the NZRU has to schedule seven rather than six Air New Zealand Cup games each week.

In the first round of the new tournament, games have been played on Fridays at 7.35pm, Saturdays at 2.35pm, 5.35pm and 7.35pm and Sundays at 2.35pm and 4.35pm.

The options for the extra game are to play it at 5.35pm on Fridays, 12.30pm on Sundays, have a clash with another game or go outside the weekend and trial Thursday nights.

An early game on Friday clashes with the evening news and would also make it hard for spectators to arrive in time after work.

SkyTV has a rights package to show all games live and is reluctant to have a clash, while no union is keen to host an early Sunday game, as the few played at that time in the past have yielded disappointing crowds.

Thursdays, then, are an alternative and while the major unions have expressed reluctance to host games at that time, the Manawatu Turbos and Southland Stags believe they could attract a decent crowd.

Manawatu chief executive Hadyn Smith said: "I'm not fazed by it and we have put our hand up. It's an opportunity to test the level of support. The only thing I would say is that we don't want to have to play them all the time."

The NZRU will announce later tonight the draw for the next three weeks that will see the top six teams from the first round split into two pools of three and the bottom eight split into pools of four.

If they decide to go ahead with Thursdays, then Manawatu, having played last Friday, are expected to be the first union to host a game at the new time, as they will have had a longer recovery period than Southland, who played last night at 5.30pm.

Southland, though, will be keen to trial it, too, especially if the alternative is to play early on Sunday.

Southland chief executive Roger Clark said: "Until you try it, how do you know? We have a problem on Sundays, especially during the lambing season, when a lot of people can't get away. We normally have about 7500 people coming down to home games and that has dropped to about 3500 when we have played on Sundays.

"I think it would have bigger implications for the bigger unions but gate revenue is not that important to us so it's not such a big risk giving it a go."