Super-sized Super 14 the saviour

Fears a player shortage would derail plans for a super-sized Super rugby competition is one of the key factors that saved Northland and Tasman from oblivion.
Northland, Tasman saved

The New Zealand Rugby Union back-tracked on its proposal to demote both unions from its "financially unsustainable" Air New Zealand Cup on Friday and the existing 14 teams will continue to compete in next year's competition.

The decision was met with widespread surprise. However, rugby insiders told the Sunday Star-Times a drastic rethink was forced in recent weeks because plans to reshape Super rugby are now in an advanced stage.

Sources have confirmed the Super 14 is expected to expand by four teams in as many years, creating about 200 new jobs. New Zealand Rugby Players' Association boss Rob Nichol said about half of these will be filled by players and coaches involved in the Air New Zealand Cup.

"From our perspective, with these changes to Super rugby coming, it made no sense to reduce the player pool in New Zealand. The NZRU agreed."

The future format of Super rugby is not set in stone yet. But what we do know is the competition will expand to 15 teams in 2010 and probably 18 by 2012, including six from New Zealand.

It's also tipped to run for about 24 weeks, meaning existing franchise squads will expand from 28 to about 35, that move creating 35 new playing jobs in New Zealand alone.

"The reality is it will be much much more [than 35]," said Nichol. "That's exciting for the player market which is already under pressure not only from the northern hemisphere but from closer to home.

"Australia is going to allow two players from overseas to join their squads next year. Don't assume that they will come from the northern hemisphere. We'd like to see some come from Argentina and the Pacific and ultimately they could join our New Zealand-based teams too.

"We already know that coaches like Robbie Deans and John Mitchell, who know our guys inside out, are making offers [to New Zealand-based players] so we're going to need more professional rugby players to meet that demand."

The NZRU was coy on how much their Super rugby planning had influenced the change of direction over Northland and Tasman. But they admitted it played a part, as did future plans to overhaul the way players are paid in this country.

Last year, the provinces spent $20m on players' contracts. About $8m went into the pockets of Super 14 players even though they received retainers by the NZRU. About $12m went to non-Super 14 players.

Nichol said the system had become inefficient. If franchises could directly sign players Nichol estimated about $6m to $8m would be carved out off provincial unions' cost ledger.

"The slack [several million dollars] would have to be picked up by somebody else. But hopefully changes to Super rugby will generate new income and a fairer model on how to distribute that revenue [to those who generate it]. There will be more players exposed to it too so from our perspective that's a good thing."

Nichol said the game was at a "crossroads" with rugby needing to expand into new markets to generate new income. He said if New Zealand wasn't at the vanguard of change it risked losing an opportunity to create the premier rugby competition in the world.

"That's the goal we need to achieve. If we don't, we risk becoming another Argentina or Pacific Island country, with all our players based overseas. We can't let that happen. We need to embrace this change. The market for players is becoming more competitive every year so cutting down the amount of opportunities available just didn't make sense strategically or financially."

- © Fairfax NZ News