Rugby: NZRU gives itself a pass mark

The administrators of the national game might have kissed goodbye to the best part of $16 million last year, but it did not stop the New Zealand Rugby Union giving itself a pass mark for 2009.

The NZRU achieved a self-appointed mark of 68 out of 100 for its performance in 2009, down on the lofty 78 per cent it achieved the year before, but significantly higher than the 52 per cent it accrued in a disaster-strewn 2007.

Under six categories with different weighting, the national body marked itself according to various goals.

Under "strong community rugby", for example, the NZRU gave themselves just 11 out of 20, mainly because they failed to retain the numbers they wanted to in the 13-20 age-group bracket.

The number of teenagers drifting out of the sport has been a bane for clubs and schools the length and breadth of the country and the drop-off has yet to be stopped.

"Winning All Blacks" is self-explanatory, though the mark of 17.5 out of 25 seems a little high when you consider the public dissatisfaction around the performance of the All Blacks in the June internationals and the Tri Nations, though they did pick up on the end of year tour.

The performance of the Junior All Blacks, New Zealand under 20s and the men's and women's sevens teams were included in this category.

Another mark that, on the surface at least, seems overblown, is the 19.5 out of 25 awarded for "outstanding competitions".

The Super 14 was extremely slow-burning in terms of interest in 2009, a factor which led into crowd numbers being low for All Black home tests.

Interest was up in the NPC, but it must be noted that all the while that was happening the NZRU and some of its bolshier unions were pushing to exclude four teams for 2010 onwards.

The NZRU gave itself a tick for agreeing the national provincial championship from 2011 onwards, though this came about only after the board voted against the committee's recommendation of a 10-team premier division.

Still, they got there.

Under "effective structures", the union scraped together 10 out of 20, falling short on the fundamental point of not achieving budget (not by a long, long way as it turned out).

Achieving a "positive global presence" and building towards an "inspirational World Cup" were each weighted at five per cent and the NZRU gave itself full marks for both.

SIX PILLARS OF SUCCESS - SCORE

* Strong community rugby - 11/20
* Winning All Blacks - 17.5/25
* Outstanding competitions - 19.5/25
* Effective structures - 10/20
* Positive global presence - 5/5
* Inspirational Rugby World Cup - 5/5
* Total 68/100