Rugby: Wanganui miffed over Cup

It was inevitable someone would be upset by the restructuring of the Air New Zealand Cup and Wanganui believe the NZRU have treated them badly.

Rugby bosses have been widely lauded for agreeing a new structure when negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement which will see a seven-team Premier Division and a seven-team First Division from 2011.

There will be automatic promotion/relegation between the two divisions but no chance for a union like Wanganui to earn promotion to the First Division.

Wanganui and Mid Canterbury were the two Heartland unions being courted to make the move into a six-team First Division under the original plan of a 10-6 split.

"We aren't happy," Wanganui chief executive Dale Cobb said. "We would have liked the opportunity to at least earn promotion ... but they are looking at ceiling this competition for three years.

"We will make a submission [to the NZRU] in the New Year. We need to address this because we believe it's been decided too quickly without consultation.

"We have had a taste [of playing in the First Division], liked the idea and to just take it away like that is tough to take. When it suited them, they asked Heartland to help them and now they are basically saying, 'thanks, but no thanks'."

The details around the revamped Air New Zealand Cup are still to be ratified by the NZRU board, provincial unions and franchises, and the players' association.

It's hoped this will be completed in the next three months, especially given the angst that has existed over the competition's format over the past three years.

The new structure is likely to see Wanganui lose coach Guy Lennox to a bigger union, while Heartland Player of the Year Asaeli Tikoirotuma is also expected to move on.

Players' association boss Rob Nichol understood why Wanganui felt aggrieved but said it would be wrong from their perspective to have promotion/relegation between amateur and professional competitions.

"It's a significant investment in time, money and energy around a sporting team and promotion/relegation from an amateur to a professional competition is fraught with issues. I don't think New Zealand rugby can afford that to happen because we have to be wise with every dollar we spend."