KEY POINTS:
It was billed as a victory for rugby but yesterday's NZRU decision to grant a national championship reprieve to Northland and Tasman was also a defeat for chief executive Steve Tew and his management team.
Tew and his staff had conducted an extensive review of the game's structures, canvassed the rugby community over the length and breadth of the country for opinion, and considered multiple scenarios before deciding a 12-team national championship was the correct first move in what will be a complex, multi-staged overhaul of the game's competition structures.
But that work was yesterday punted into touch by the NZRU board, which decided that excluding Northland and Tasman would do more harm than good.
The decision to reject the recommendations of Tew's management team suggests there has been a shift in the balance of power at the game's headquarters.
Having been castigated for rubber-stamping disastrous initiatives such as the pre-World Cup removal of players from the 2007 Super 14, the board clearly baulked at the prospect of sparking a damaging conflict with two of its constituent unions.
"We have clearly heard from those unions and their supporters about the impact they believe demotion will have on the game in their regions," chairman of the NZRU Jock Hobbs said.
Having been the main drivers in seeking a reduction of teams in the competition, major metropolitan unions such as Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury will now be digesting yesterday's decision.
The bigger unions had argued the diluted quality of 14-team format had harmed their ability to attract spectators to matches and had therefore hurt their bottom lines.
Asked if the decision could be viewed as victory for the smaller unions, Hobbs said: "Hopefully it is a victory for rugby."
The board's view was that the competition needed to have as broad a base as possible in order to unearth talent for higher levels of the game, he said.
Club rugby looks likely to be the big loser. Not only did the board vote to retain all 14 unions, but it also opted to extend the competition to a full 13-match round robin followed by semis and a final.
For the next two years at least the competition will run for 15 weeks, placing in jeopardy plans to prevent unions from withdrawing players from the final weeks of club competitions.
Tew said work would continue on the creation of a protected club window but he conceded that preventing unions from pulling representative players out at club finals time now looked an uphill battle.
Northland and Tasman may have survived but they are on a short rope. Both unions must fulfil a host of conditions to take their place in next year's tournament.
Northland's board has been told to resign en masse and re-contest their positions and the union must appoint a permanent chief executive. The NRZU also received assurances from two Far North mayors the union's ground would be extensively redeveloped.
Tasman's status depends on Marlborough and Nelson remaining committed to the joint venture. The $340,000 bailout the NZRU provided the union this season, which was originally viewed as a grant, must be repaid.
Cutting the unions would have saved the NZRU $1.3 million a season but Tew said that money would now be viewed as an investment in the game, rather than a loss.
Hobbs said all competing unions would operate under tighter financial controls.
The criteria used to assess the unions' performance is to be altered to give more weighting to on-field performance and financial management and will be set in stone, with any unions that don't measure up to be excluded from the competition.
"We will expect [them] to maintain their financial viability on an annual basis which will be assessed," Hobbs said. "Any failure to do so could see a province removed from the competition."
Tasman chief executive Peter Barr said Marlborough and Nelson Bays must quickly smoke the peace pipe.
While relieved and delighted at the decision, Barr admitted there was a need for the two provinces that formed the amalgamation to prove they are on the same wavelength. After that will come the task of repaying a $340,000 loan from the NZRU.
A proposal that the Ranfurly Shield holder would take the trophy on the road after three home defences was also rejected at yesterday's meeting.
