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Sanzar's summit in Dubai has failed to answer key questions about the future of Super Rugby - and increased the urgency of investigating an alternative format where Australia and New Zealand teams play in a joint conference leaving South Africa to do their own thing.
While the meeting in Dubai has been hailed as a breakthrough, it appears to be anything but - with the three countries still nowhere near agreement on a preferred season start date, what to do with the June test window and whether to allow a greater foreign influx into the competition.
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew has confirmed that South African executives are unwilling to shift the Currie Cup from its existing window of early July to late October.
South Africa have already sold broadcast rights to their domestic competition and are understood to have provided assurances that Springboks will be heavily involved.
That reluctance to shift the Currie Cup creates a major problem as both Australia and New Zealand want to see the competition start in March.
The 15-team championship split into three geographic conferences which remains the preferred option will take 22 weeks to run - meaning an early March start would lead to a mid-August finish - a no-no for South Africa.
And it would only finish in early August if it ran through the June test window - meaning that for three weeks at least the best players would not be involved in Super Rugby. That option would not appeal to broadcasters who would knock the price down to reflect the non-appearance of test stars.
An IRB working party is currently examining the future of the June test window and one idea under consideration is playing internationals mid-week to at least open the potential for peripheral test players to be involved in weekend Super Rugby games that won't be competing for viewers with international games.
Tew says New Zealand will be prepared to compromise and agree to a start date in the last weekend of February but has warned that negotiations are still at a delicate stage with no guarantee they will reach an amicable conclusion.
"It was reassuring to hear from our two partners that they remain committed, especially after speculation came out of South Africa that they were looking to Europe.
"But we are a very long way from popping champagne corks.
"As we work through the detail we are all finding issues. Whatever we decide has to work from both the playing side and from a commercial standpoint.
"The South Africans have got sound reason for wanting to protect the period around the Currie Cup while Australia wants more Super Rugby," said Tew. "We have three countries with unique demands and we don't have all the solutions."
Because there are so many hurdles to clear to reach a sign-off on the Super 15 conference format before the June 30 broadcast deadline, the newly created Sanzar working party will also research the feasibility of an entirely different set-up where an Australasian conference is created involving New Zealand, Australian and possibly Asian and Pacific Island teams.
South Africa would run their own conference with the two groups only coming together for a finals series.
Tew stressed that while research on this alternative is being stepped up, it is not the preferred option.
He also said that the NZRU board will need to hold discussions about whether they will amend existing All Black eligibility rules to encourage greater movement of players between Super Rugby teams.
Currently only players contracted to New Zealand teams can play for the All Blacks. However, all Sanzar partners are concerned about how they will staff any sides in the competition.
If the legislation was amended to make all players contracted to Sanzar teams eligible, then it is hoped that some of New Zealand's surplus of talent could be used offshore to strengthen the competition.
Allowing a limited number of foreign players into the competition would be another means to boost the quality and add some intrigue and this proposal will also be considered soon by the NZRU board.
