KEY POINTS:
The full cost of last year's disastrous All Blacks reconditioning programme will never be known.
The withdrawal of 22 top All Blacks from the bulk of last year's Super 14 was the catalyst for a dramatic drop off in interest in rugby. That drop off was much greater than the now-contrite NZRU officials expected and the lack of any bounce back from the anticipated World Cup victory means the game is still suffering now.
Thursday's independent review into the World Cup failure slated the reconditioning programme but chief executive Steve Tew said there was no evidence it had damaged the NZRU's crucial commercial relationships with broadcaster News Limited and major sponsor adidas.
Time will tell whether Tew is right, but the cost of the conditioning mistake has already been felt at provincial level.
Lower than expected gates at Blues games has resulted in a smaller dividend being passed on to the provincial unions, North Harbour chief executive Brett Hollister confirmed.
"We saw a decrease in viewership last year and had less people coming to [Blues] games. Whether that was attributable to some of the best players being out [we don't know], but it has an impact on the revenue that was generated by the Blues and the flow-on effect of that was felt through [a decreased] dividend."
Hollister said it was impossible to tell how much of the decline in interest could be attributed to the reconditioning programme.
"General interest in rugby was down across all competitions. Whether that related to the Rugby World Cup, I'm not sure. Only time will tell us. But the trend seems to have continued a little bit this year with crowds in the Super 14."
Thursday's report slated the reconditioning programme, saying:
Proper consultation was not undertaken with the Super 14 franchises;
The NZRU board rubber stamped the plan too quickly, without testing it in a limited form or seeking independent advice;
The reintegration of players into Super 14 was badly managed;
Not playing Super 14 meant some players suffered a drop in confidence, while others were injured early on in the programme due to its intensity.
The report also said the national championship was the logical place for future conditioning to take place, a view supported by All Blacks coach Graham Henry.
That appears to be bad news for provincial unions, which already struggle to get much value out of their contracted All Blacks.
"The problem that we have at the moment is that we pay for them but we don't see them," Hollister said. "We'd feel much better about it if we didn't have to pay for them. When you are paying for them and not seeing the benefit of them trotting out for your team each week, that's difficult."
The structure of the national championship is under review and it is looking increasingly likely it will become an All Black-free zone. Hollister said consideration needed to be given to whether that was in the game's best interests.
"The thing we've got to look at is, what do the fans in New Zealand want? The fans drive the revenue, they come to games and buy pay TV subscriptions. So we've got to put a focus on what our customers want.
"When you look around the world, successful competitions typically have the best players playing in them."
