O'Neill wants to align provincial competitions

Good old John O'Neill strikes again, the Australian rugby boss continuing to stir the pot over a possible alignment between the provincial games on either side of the Tasman.

Quite why New Zealand's long established, albeit financially brittle, national provincial championship would want to align with a non- existent Australian one remains to be seen, but O'Neill seems determined to propagate the possibility of a combined competition.

He told The Australian newspaper yesterday that a "revived" third tier provincial competition could be linked with New Zealand's equivalent event.

"It may be that part of the solution is a possible tie-up with the NPC," O'Neill told the paper.

"Nothing has been formally broached with the NZRU but I certainly know that some of the shareholders within New Zealand rugby have raised it.

"New Zealand is in much the same position as we are. They won't know precisely what is possible until the broadcast deal is finalised and everyone has a better idea what their bottom line will be."

Australian rugby certainly needs to do something. Soon they will have to prop up a fifth Super rugby side, and somehow their player base needs to be widened.

But with New Zealand heading for a downsizing at the top level of the provincial game as it looks to cut its cloth, it's hard to see how going trans-Tasman could be seen as the best way forward.

New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew told the Star- Times the concept had been discussed at a recent workshop.

"The notion of Australian teams participating in our domestic competitions has been raised in various discussions here over many years, including at the recent Air New Zealand Cup workshop.

"That said, it was not an idea that was immediately embraced as most parties felt it ran counter to the concept of a distinctly New Zealand national competition.

"It also has the potential to dilute the international flavour and positioning of Super rugby."

–Michael Donaldson and Marc Hinton

- © Fairfax NZ News