Where to next?

It's 4pm on a Wednesday and two empty coffee cups stand sentry beside the note pad.

On it is a mess of scrawled ideas, some crossed out or scribbled over, others underlined.

The task had seemed so simple. The New Zealand Rugby Union has invited the media to Auckland on Wednesday to discuss the forum it held with the Super 14 franchises and provincial unions earlier this year - or at least parts of it.

The Editor had wandered over, quite nonchalantly, perched on a nearby desk, and like a bloke commenting on the weather had suggested we proffer a few views on what needs to be done.

"Give us your views on how the competitions should change," he suggested.

At the time it had seemed so simple.

After all, rugby's got such a myriad of woes at the moment rattling them off is easy.

Player numbers are falling, there are fewer people at the games, revenue is drying up as the foreign exchange bites, the competitions are tired, there are too many tests and far too much rugby.

Add to that, increased weekend work, more leisure options, the downturn in the economy, poor weather, the World Cup hangover and how much easier it is to watch games on the telly rather than find a park and walk to the games.

For a long time one solution had seemed simple.

Create a longer Super competition with the Air New Zealand Cup played at the same time as a feeder competition, leaving plenty of time afterwards for test matches and a decent break over summer.

There you go - problem solved.

But, as some of the practicalities and permutations are added in, reality bites. For every idea there is a problem.

Sitting like a giant wart in the middle of any plans to lengthen the Super competition is the date May 31. It's the day last year's summit at Woking agreed the Heineken Cup would end, creating a clear June window for tests in the southern hemisphere.

To get a 20-week Super competition in before that date it would have had to have started on January 11 this year and that's untenable.

Had it started on February 15, as this year's Super 14 did, the 20-week tournament would end on the last weekend of June.

Again, not practical. You could start later, and simply play through the June tests as Australia's NRL league competition does when tests and the State of Origin are on, but it's not ideal.

Taking a break during June would create an odd pause in the competition - a hiatus that would add different meaning to the two parts of the tournament, helping some teams and hindering others.

The best solution would be convincing the northern unions to scrap June tests and play internationals from August to November.

While the Super competition has to be longer, it need not be as long as the NRL, which has 26-rounds then the playoffs, because rugby has a meaningful international scene that can provide the perfect dessert to the Super main course.

But it has to be substantial as the Australians are desperate for more "product" - and there must be accord across the Tasman.

The Australians will push for another team, taking their tally to five, with the fifth side possibly based in Melbourne. There are also calls for Japan to be included with all its corporate clout, or the Pacific Islands which would add to the entertainment value.

It could be argued that South Africa should be excluded from a revamped Super competition. Games in South Africa don't suit New Zealand and Australian television audiences and the travel for teams is arduous.

The South African sides have largely failed on the field, with the Bulls' win last year their first title, while the poor crowds they attract in New Zealand suggests Kiwis are not enthralled by the style of rugby they play.

But South Africa is a massive rugby nation and helps deliver a credible product to the broadcaster. It would not be cast aside lightly.

That said, the Tri-Nations is a tired product, with the third round added in 2006 failing to excite punters.

It should be scrapped, or radically trimmed so that tours with midweek games can be re-introduced - a concept that for now collides headfirst with a full calendar.

Ideally an international Super Six or Eight could be played two years after each World Cup with the longer tours held during the "off" years.

It might be back to the future but it's what people want.

Pride of place in New Zealand is the national championship, with many suggesting it is the backbone of our rugby and the most precious jewel in the crown.

The reality is that its lustre has dimmed.

The trickle-down effect of the Great Rugby Turn off - a symptom helped immeasurably by the almost catastrophic decision to undermine last year's Super 14 - has hit the Air New Zealand Cup hard.

Yet for New Zealand rugby to be strong the production line has to be maintained because for rugby in New Zealand to be strong the All Blacks and Super teams need to play attractive rugby - and win.

So, to provide a window for the production line, the national championship has to slip slightly below the radar.

Club rugby can be played while the Super competition is on and flow into the domestic competition, just as the Super tournament will lead into the tests.

There will be a gnashing of teeth from the game's traditionalists, but as coaches like to say, `if you stand still, you get overtaken'.

It's time rugby moved ahead.

 

- © Fairfax NZ News