KEY POINTS:
About 80 keen rugby minds started a special congress yesterday to predict and shape the future of the code in New Zealand with their initial target to set a five-year plan.
That work continued last night in Wellington and will resume today as provincial chairman, chief executives, Super 14 officials, All Black and NZRU staff and specially invited participants thrash through a list of issues like competition structures, player retention, income streams, costs, and the place of the community game in New Zealand.
"It was an intensively constructive day of discussions," NZRU chief executive Steve Tew declared.
"We have had a good look at the environment we are operating in and I think there is an acknowledgement that the world is changing and changing quickly and that rugby may not - certainly in this country - have changed as quickly as some of the things round us.
"And therefore there is a need to change and that change will be a constant part of our environment.
An independent facilitator controlled the forum and Tew said the general mood was an acceptance that rugby was facing the same pressures and challenges that every other business did.
"The world around us is changing at a rapidly increasing rate - technology, travel, environmental issues. Everything is having an impact on our sport and we need to be very wary of that."
Tew said the two-day seminar in New Zealand, in many ways, mirrored what the International Rugby Board had gone through at their special meeting late last year in Woking.
"Ours is a much broader brief but there are some similarities and the things that came out of Woking feed into these discussions," he said.
It was too early to give any great feedback on what changes might occur in New Zealand but much of that detail would be canvassed in today's second series of discussions. Two days would not solve all the problems but it was a good start.
"If we get to where we would like to be we will have a mandate to form some work streams and some project teams and get on and do some more stuff in detail.
"I think we have made real progress, probably more than we had hoped," said Tew.
"If we then agree on a timetable of work and how it is all going to fit together and possibly look at the way we will do some of that work then we will have had an outstanding two days."
