Union rethink may mean NPC ranks will swell

Fears of tears this week over the naming of the NPC professional premier division are easing.

Fourteen bids were put in for the 12 places the New Zealand Rugby Union said would be on offer for next year's competition.

Speculation flew round the country over which two would be consigned to playing in the amateur modified first division of up to 15 teams.

The whisper now is that the NZRFU has had a rethink and will confirm all 14 in the professional division on Thursday.

Concerns over legal issues which might arise from rejecting two applicants are understood to be a key aspect in the union's thinking.

The six bids widely understood to have been vying for four spots in a 12-team format were Northland and Southland from this year's first division; Hawkes Bay, Manawatu and Counties Manukau from the second division, and an amalgamated Nelson Bays-Marlborough bid, called Tasman.

The eight regarded as safe are North Harbour, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.

The union put the bidders through a selection process which covered a variety of topics, ranging from governance and administration, to playing numbers, financial position, stadium quality and current and forecast population growth.

The union said it planned a three-year initial no-relegation period to enable those in the professional division to bed down their operations.

That was also seen as meaning the death knell to the unsuccessful applicants in terms of attracting, or retaining, good players and would drastically reduce sponsorship possibilities.