IRB on 'verge of makeover'

The New Zealand Rugby Union has helped convince the International Rugby Board it is time to overhaul an outdated structure and approach to running the game.

Long-criticised for having an inflexible executive unwilling to move with the times, the IRB appears set to approve wholesale changes to its governance at a full council meeting in Dublin next month.

The structure of the council itself is at the heart of the problem, according to NZRFU chief executive Chris Moller, who was delighted with the progress made after two days of high-powered meetings in London.

"There was unanimous agreement that there needed to be change," Moller said before flying home from London.

"There was agreement that the current council needed to be replaced by an executive board or committee of a much smaller number of people."

The 21-man structure comprises two delegates each from the eight foundation unions - made of the three Sanzar nations and five European home unions - along with one each from Canada, Argentina, Japan, Italy and the Amateur Rugby Federation (FIRA-AER). New Zealand's two delegates are chairman Jock Hobbs and Moller.

Moller said the streamlining changes, many of which had been recommended by the NZRFU to a working party set up to assess the structure, would bring benefits.

"It will mean much more rapid decision-making, the board can meet on a more regular basis rather than every six months. And it can focus on the key areas of strategy and policy as opposed to operational matters and it can really expedite things in what is the modern and professional era."

A sore point for the NZRFU is that the IRB spends too much time and resources on the implementation of development programmes in individual countries. Moller said the new structure would see the IRB focusing more on global strategy, along with the running of its "baby", the rugby World Cup.

The meeting, attended by the chief executives and chairmen of the IRB and the eight foundation nations, was close to unanimous in support of the proposed changes, suggesting they would be approved next month in Dublin.

Moller was quietly pleased with New Zealand's role in driving the changes. "To a very large measure, the [NZRFU] submissions that have been made are the decisions that have been adopted."

Moller also gained support for his urgings that IRB funding get channelled more to countries at the second and third-tier levels who "have the potential over time to possibly win the World Cup".

The IRB provides funding for 102 nations and Moller believed too big a chunk is given to tiny rugby outposts. That money would be better employed in countries such as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, who were good enough to qualify for World Cups but were in danger of slipping out of contention at the highest level.

It was too early to say how a new funding programme would be implemented, but Moller said it wasn't just for the benefit of Pacific rugby.

Founding rugby nations such as Wales, Scotland and Ireland "have also got their challenges", he said.

Meanwhile, Moller said a tight schedule in London left him no time to meet Cullen Sports boss Mick Watson on the issue of a proposed Pasifika franchise playing in the 2006 Super 12.

He said he left a message with Watson and said the issue would need to be discussed in the near future in New Zealand.

- NZPA