KEY POINTS:
Provincial unions will learn their fate this week after a New Zealand Rugby Union board meeting yesterday concluded how the national championship will look next year.
The NZRU were to decide if 11 or 12 teams would be left in the Air New Zealand Cup competition.
It is not known if the NZRU concluded which of the 14 teams will be culled but if they didn't, they are expected to do so tomorrow.
Those unions eliminated from the elite landscape can challenge the decision but NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs said any appeals would be weighed against the conclusions already drawn.
Tasman will cease to exist at the end of this season, with Marlborough preferring to go it alone in 2009, even if that means playing in the Heartland Championship.
That would leave Nelson Bays on their own with limited resources. The NZRU has already agreed to bail Tasman out as they are about to run out of money.
Steve Tew, NZRU chief executive, admits Tasman are in a precarious position but no conclusions about their longer term future should be drawn at this stage.
Yesterday's meeting was also expected to decide if New Zealand would support an expanded playoff series for next year's Super 14.
Sanzar bosses met last month and agreed to discuss individually the prospect of having six teams in the knock-out stage of Super 14.
Such an extension means the Super 14 will have to start a week earlier than normal so test players can meet their June commitments.
Whether the All Blacks will see out those test commitments is now in real doubt. As the Herald on Sunday recently revealed, the French - who are due to play tests in New Zealand on June 13 and June 20 - have broken an agreement to finish their club competition by the end of May.
The final of the Top 14 will be played on June 6 with French coach Marc Lievremont already having said he won't take to New Zealand those players involved in the final.
When the Herald on Sunday initially told Tew of France's intentions he was sure there had been a mistake because a recent conversation with IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset had led him to believe the French would definitely bring their strongest team.
"We have two pieces of information," Tew said. "Bernard [Lapasset] was in New Zealand and he assured us the French would be bringing a full-strength side to New Zealand next year, and they go to Australia for a test.
"As recently as Monday night, it was confirmed on a chief executives' conference call that the final will now be held on the sixth of June.
"That is completely at odds with what was committed to at Woking. Sanzar has discussed it and Sanzar will be taking it up with the IRB and we will be taking it up as individual countries as well.
"We will keep all of our options open at the moment. It is frustrating, very frustrating. We reserve our rights and our options."
