Written consent for Tasman Makos to stay - chairman

BY WAYNE MARTIN

Tasman believes that it has written consent from the New Zealand Rugby Union to remain part of next year's Air New Zealand Cup competition.

According to Tasman Rugby Union chairman Nick Patterson, when the NZRU reinstated the Tasman and Northland unions last December to play in this year's competition, this invitation included participation in both the 2009 and 2010 competitions.

The two unions had originally been cut from the 2009 competition due to serious financial problems. But after being given an ultimatum by the NZRU to balance their budgets, which they achieved, they were reinstated.

However, Mr Patterson said that while there might be written confirmation of intent to have both unions remain in next year's competition, he believed that the NZRU's persistent claims that the current 14-team format was financially unsustainable would override any other factors.

"The issue with the NZRU at the moment is that they're saying the weight of opinion said that they had to make some changes now, not 2010."

Mr Patterson said Tasman would pursue the issue as one of several options still available to it to stay in the competition, but he would not elaborate on what these were.

"The NZRU seem absolutely hell-bent on making this happen, and they're not going to take any prisoners along the way to get there.

"The irony of it is that the smaller provincial unions are actually faring better financially than some of the larger ones.

"We've ticked all our boxes that we can. We've turned our finances around; we will be declaring a reasonable profit at the end of this year."

Mr Patterson said there were still two issues that could affect the NZRU's proposal to cut four teams from next year's competition.

Heartland teams Wanganui and Mid-Canterbury were in the process of determining whether they had the capacity to participate in a six-team division-one competition, and there were still issues surrounding the players' collective.

The New Zealand Players' Association wants the salary cap to be the same for both the premier and division-one competitions, and for division one to have full television coverage.

"I understand that [the Heartland unions] have to give the NZRU an undertaking of what they're going to do by December 1 now. Before, it was open ended; they didn't have a time frame on that," Mr Patterson said.

"We're keeping in close touch with them to see what their view is. But if nobody steps up, then yes, the NZRU have got a problem.

"Supposedly, if any of those three things aren't met, it could be business as usual, and we're still beavering away on that score."

Mr Patterson said that despite all the uncertainty, he was heartened by the loyalty of the Tasman Makos players.

"I'm absolutely delighted with our player support at this time, where the players are saying, to a man, that their preference is to be playing premier rugby for the Makos, and until such time as it's determined whether they can, they won't be doing anything else."

More than 15,000 people signed a Save the Makos petition in Nelson and Marlborough last month.

- © Fairfax NZ News