Unions to get review details

Josh Willoughby

THE Poverty Bay and Ngati Porou East Coast rugby unions will be brought up to speed with New Zealand Rugby's extensive review tomorrow.

Representatives of the two provincial unions will attend a meeting hosted by the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union and NZR is expected to provide more information about proposed changes to the way the game is run and where money is spent.

Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chief executive Josh Willoughby said he would be attending with two of the union's board members.

“We've been engaging with NZR through the process and we're looking forward to more details at the roadshow,” he said.

Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Union chief executive Cushla Tangaere-Manuel said the meeting would include a presentation about the findings so far of consultants McKinsey, who began work on the review in January.

NZR has said the review is about setting the game up for sustained success — opportunities to grow revenue and remove inefficiencies could free up $20 million to $30m to reinvest in the game.

Rugby is facing a series of challenges, ranging from talent retention to declining interest in Super Rugby and lower participation rates at high school level.

The review covers areas such as domestic competitions, spending money in the most effective ways and developing talent.

The full McKinsey report will not be released to the public.

Tangaere-Manuel is one of the provincial union members who is part of a governance group for the review.