Frustrated Hobbs and Tew backed into corner

New Zealand rugby bosses have expressed their frustration over being forced to put a mooted provincial revamp on hold for at least a year, while beleaguered chief executive Steve Tew has received an emphatic vote of confidence from his board chairman.

Both Tew and NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs, at a press conference in Wellington today, spoke out about their irritation over a process that effectively backed them into a corner.

Earlier today they announced that the current 14-team premier provincial championship would be retained for next year, and that the proposed change to a 10-6 split between the top two divisions would be put on hold.

Effectively they had been forced to postpone the controversial revamp of the provincial scene because of two factors: the ongoing negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement with players; and the lodging of appeals and threat of legal action by a number of unions which would have seriously delayed any final decision on the new format.

Central to the entire process has been NZRU chief executive Tew who has now twice failed to get major revamps to the elite provincial competition over the line. There have been suggestions from some quarters that Tew's job should be under threat after he'd again come up short in leading a move towards change.

However Tew stood by his actions through the controversial process that saw the NZRU recommend that the current Air NZ Cup be replaced by a 10-team premier division and a six-team first division that would include two sides from the Heartland competition.

They made it clear today that that remained a course they were heading towards in either 2011 or 2012, and just had more time to hammer out an equitable resolution.

"I think there's a feeling of frustration around the meeting of yesterday and the decision that we needed to make," said Hobbs at the end of a day which concluded with the 14 Air NZ Cup chief executives and the bosses of Heartland hopefuls Mid-Canterbury and Wanganui meeting with Tew to hammer out a few home truths.

Hobbs described the call to put on hold any change as "the only sensible decision we could make".

On top of the appeals that had already been lodged, and the shift in stance from the players' collective (they backed a 7-7 competition split among the existing 14 teams), Hobbs said the threat of legal action from several quarters meant that it was not likely any final decision could have been reached until at least March next year.

"We would have liked to have made a decision on its merits," he said. "Our decision was limited by the collective bargaining process which we respect and the appeals which had been lodged."

Tew said the process of bargaining the new players collective had been a complicating factor they had anticipated, especially when it involved key planks such as salary cap and payment model.

"The frustration is that we have been through quite a long process with provincial unions," added the chief executive. "We have been incredibly consultative and democratic. We got at least majority support for a lot of things we were pushing towards.

"We didn't have a predetermined view of what the competition would look like. We just want in the end to spit out a competition that in principle they all agreed to and that they could all live with, that would be affordable and could work."

Tew echoed Hobbs' feeling that the legal threats had been "frustrating". He added: "But that's our reality and we will now push on.

"We have a big week next week with our players to sort out this collective agreement. If we can get that nailed before Christmas it would be great, if not we will do it in the new year.

"The one thing the decision has done is relieve the time pressure."

Tew also shrugged off suggestions his failure to lead the required provincial change put pressure on his position as head of the NZRU.

"I am the public face of this organisation. When things go well I am the public face. When things don't go well I'm the public face. That's my job," he said, typically bullish.

In terms of the "accountability" factor, he was not prepared to be anyone's sacrificial lamb.

"I will definitely take accountability for the fact that we have run a very professional process and provided the provincial unions with a real opportunity to be involved in this process.

"We had an independently facilitated workshop in here at their request. We played a very small role that day to make sure it was theirs. They got to a point where they couldn't agree to a competition structure that they would all want.

"They agreed to some principles. Once they did that we took a lot of comfort because they actually asked us to lead. They said one of the things that might stop it was a failure of leadership from the NZRU.

"I'm happy to be accountable for that, absolutely. Should I take more blame than that? I guess other people can answer that question."

But Hobbs had an emphatic answer for those doubting Tew.

"Steve is a highly capable executive. He has my full support and the full support of the board. All of his actions and all that he has said through the course of this entire process has been at the request of the provincial unions or the board.

"There is no daylight here between management and the board. He simply carried out his role in a proper professional manner. There I think the matter ends."

For now anyway. The whole process will kick off again next year because all the latest decision has done is delay the inevitable. The cut will still eventually come, sooner rather than later.

- © Fairfax NZ News