KEY POINTS:
The appeal lodged by four small provincial unions against restrictions on loan players has failed.
The New Zealand Rugby Union's (NZRU) appeal council today turned down the appeal made by the Buller, East Coast, North Otago and West Coast unions.
They opposed an NZRU board ruling made in February which restricts the number of loan players each team can field in this year's Heartland Championship to four.
The appeal council today ruled that the appeal had failed.
In delivering its finding, the council said up until the board decision the appellants had been aware the NZRU board wanted to remove the ability of Heartland Championship unions to use loan players.
It said the appellants acknowledged the NZRU had been well aware of the appellants' position on the issue of loan players.
"Documents presented at the council hearing in Wellington by both the appellants and the NZRU indicated that the appellants' views had been taken into account when the NZRU board made its decision."
The council was made up of former NZRU chairman Rob Fisher, former NZRU president and All Blacks coach Peter Burke and Wellington lawyer Stephen Ward.
- NZPA
