RUGBY: Better spread of top players

SHANE HURNDELL
Hawke's Bay Magpies NPC premier division rugby players are unlikely to be available for the business end of next year's Maddison Trophy club competition.
"Hopefully this will lead to a more even spread of of the province's top players," Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union rugby manager Dave Stevenson said after next year's club formats were finalised at a meeting in Napier last night.
"Just as we are hoping to see a more even spread of All Black players around the NPC teams in the premier division, we are doing the same at club level here in the Bay," Stevenson said.
Next year's premier club competition will begin with a 12-team Nash Cup competition, as has been the case in recent seasons. However there won't be two six-team sections or a final. It will be a straight 11-game round robin, with the top team taking the Nash Cup.
The top eight teams in the Nash Cup will then play off for the Maddison Trophy in a competitition that will have semifinals and a final. The middle eight teams will play off, under a similar format, for a new cup and then the bottom eight, also in a similar format, for the Arthur Bowman Cup.
Stevenson said a 20-week club rugby window, starting on April 1 and ending on August 12, will be used. With the premier NPC starting on the last weekend of July, Magpies premier NPC players may miss several round robin Maddison Trophy fixtures because of pre-NPC fixtures, as well as semifinals and the final.
A two-year cycle has been set for the competition which will be reviewed at the end of each season with provision for minor changes if required.
Stevenson pointed out that there is a pathway for promotion from division three to division two and for promotion from division two to division one at the end of the season. But there can't be two teams from one club in a division.
He added that more work will be done to get more club games played in rural areas like Porangahau, Dannevirke and Wairoa which will see town clubs having to travel more often.
All draws will be out before Christmas.