NZRU 'unlikely to change stance on Air NZ Cup'

The New Zealand Rugby Union is showing no signs of altering course from a proposed 10-team Air New Zealand Cup competition following a meeting with Tasman officials in Wellington yesterday.

Tasman are one of four unions expected to be culled from next year's domestic Air New Zealand Cup competition, with the NZRU maintaining their stance that a 14-team competition is financially unsustainable.

Tasman chairman Nick Patterson and chief executive Peter Barr met with NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs, chief executive Steve Tew and directors Ken Douglas and Graham Mourie and while Barr felt they got a good hearing, he said the NZRU's position appeared entrenched.

The NZRU aims to add two Heartland unions to the proposed six-team division one competition and is expected to announce its decision on December 10. "They [said they] had to make some changes and whilst there wasn't unanimity around the decisions they've made, certainly the weight of opinion was that the 10-team competition fits into the available window," Barr said.

Seven unions are expected to report losses this year although Tasman is likely to make a small profit. "We were trying to explain to them that we felt that the impact on Tasman rugby would be significant, that we've ticked all the boxes in terms of our on-field performance and our financial situation and that it was always going to take time for us to cement ourselves in this competition.

"We've now done that and all of a sudden it's likely that the rug's going to be taken from underneath us."

Barr said their only realistic hopes of remaining in the Air New Zealand Cup appeared to rest on whether the two Heartland teams "have the appetite to go up" and around on-going discussions between the NZRU and the New Zealand Players Association regarding the players' collective agreement and salary cap. "And until we know those, we don't know whether we have a meaningful competition going forward for division one. And I guess one of the prerequisites of the board in making this decision was that there had to be a meaningful competition for those being relegated.

"You could say they were sympathetic to our cause, but they're saying that a hard decision has to be made for the good of the game long term. We just have to be patient I suppose.

"These guys [NZRU] realise they're making a tough decision that's going to have an impact on four unions and, you know, they're doing everything they can to ensure that there's a meaningful competition that gives a pathway to unions and players to play at the highest level.

"We just don't want to be one of the four."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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