Leading New Zealand provincial teams are reportedly discussing a radical revamp of Southern Hemisphere rugby.
North Harbour, Wellington, Canterbury, Auckland, Waikato, Otago, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki and Southland rugby representatives have been meeting in recent weeks, The Dominion Post newspaper reported today.
It was unclear if the New Zealand
Rugby Union had been kept informed but the report said Australian Rugby Union chief executive John O'Neill had been briefed about the group's plans on the weekend.
Former All Black and current coach of Japan, John Kirwan, has also been included in discussions, the paper said.
The group want the introduction of a 14-team transtasman trophy home-and-away competition involving nine New Zealand teams and five from Australia.
This would mean doing away with New Zealand's premier domestic competition, the Air NZ Cup.
They also want a European-style tournament to run alongside the transtasman trophy. This would involve teams from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Japan, the Pacific Islands and America.
This tournament would contain 24 teams in four pools of six playing matches every four weeks.
The window for both professional competitions is slated for March to October.
Each New Zealand team's All Blacks would be released for the international window in June.
Quoting a source, the paper said New Zealand players had been consulted and were behind the concept.
The source said the nine New Zealand unions felt that the Super rugby concept had done its dash.
Sanzar's Super 14 and Tri-Nations contract with News Limited does not end until 2011. Renegotiation of the current deal would have to be brought forward so as to have the new competitions up and running in 2010.
The NZRU is meanwhile considering the state of the domestic game and is due to unveil a new format and structure of the Air NZ championship this week.
- NZPA
