KEY POINTS:
The Crusaders are confident an emergency contracting solution will be found that will see them retain their Tasman players.
Tasman are expected to be officially condemned to the Heartland Championship at the New Zealand Rugby Union board meeting on September 25. When that happens, there will be at least four players, possibly more, who will effectively no longer have valid provincial contracts to keep them eligible for Super 14.
Brad Thorn, Ben Franks, Kade Poki and Kahn Fotuali'i are contracted to Tasman and are all expected to be in the Crusaders squad in 2009.
Ali Williams is also contracted to Tasman but he's off contract and undecided whether he wants to stay with the Crusaders or return to the Blues.
The easiest solution would be for those players' contracts to be transferred to Canterbury with the NZRU offering some compensation to help the red and blacks meet the additional cost.
However, that route is barred by the salary cap. Canterbury are already close to the existing $2.1 million cap and picking up another four or more players would see them break the limit.
"We don't think we should be penalised by decisions around the Air New Zealand Cup," said Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach.
"We are not asking for any advantage, we just want to find the best way to select the best available Crusaders side. We have made some suggestions to the NZRU and there are a range of options we are looking at. We don't quite know where all that is heading at this stage but we've had constructive dialogue."
It would appear inevitable that the NZRU is going to have to make Canterbury a special case and allow them to break the cap in 2009.
While that should enable the Crusaders to protect all the players they want, it will come at a longer term cost.
There are several promising players at Tasman such as Ben May and Jonathan Poff who might not be wanted by the Crusaders in 2009.
They could, however, be wanted when Super Rugby expands in 2010 but are unlikely to be available to the Crusaders then.
Players like Poff and May and others who have potential but are not picked by the Crusaders this year are likely to either transfer to other provinces before the October 3 cut-off or head overseas.
Given that the NZRU has already bent the rules to help the Highlanders keep players from last year's draft, it is duty bound to come up with a fair solution to the Crusaders' predicament.
While the Crusaders have easily been New Zealand's most successful franchise, they have not necessarily had all the support they would have liked from the NZRU.
In 2007, they were hit hardest by the All Black reconditioning programme and the absence of seven All Blacks for seven weeks effectively cost them the chance to defend their title.
This year, their preferred choice to replace Robbie Deans as coach was All Black assistant Steve Hansen but the NZRU blocked that appointment and now the Crusaders are having to scramble just to keep players they are entitled to select.
