KEY POINTS:
An obsession with winning the World Cup caused the NZRU to lose sight of the best interests of rugby in New Zealand.
That's the over-arching conclusion from the independent review into October's World Cup failure.
The union's three key decision makers - chief executive Steve Tew, chairman Jock Hobbs and coach Graham Henry - all conceded wrecking last year's Super 14 by withdrawing 22 top All Blacks for the bulk of the competition had been a mistake. The consequences of that mistake had been much greater than they'd ever imagined.
"We made a mistake that adversely affected the game of rugby in New Zealand," chairman Jock Hobbs said. "We undoubtedly did underestimate the impact of the conditioning programme on the Super 14, our franchises and our provincial unions. There is a cost there. We acknowledge and accept that.
"We are working very hard and will continue to work very hard to rebuild confidence and trust in the NZRU and in rugby with our fans, partners and sponsors."
All three will get the chance to atone for their error, with the body count from the World Cup bow-out to be confined to the lesser members of the bloated 19-strong management team that went to France.
Henry and his co-coaches had already been reappointed after a review of their performance, while there was no reason for Tew or himself to fall on their swords, Hobbs said.
"Graham was subject to a detailed performance review and then a contestable appointment process where he had to prove he was the best person for the job - he did so.
"In regard to Steve Tew, he was not the CEO in 2006 and 2007 and, in my opinion, it would be totally inappropriate for him to be held accountable for this one result.
"With respect to myself, I said back in Cardiff I would resign if it was appropriate. The feedback I have had from our key stakeholders is that it was not appropriate. There is nothing in this report that I can see that would change that."
Hobbs said nothing in the report would have affected the board's decision to reappoint Henry and his coaching team.
The report, compiled by former softball coach Don Tricker and lawyer Mike Heron, found:
* The importance of winning the World Cup had been over-emphasised by the NZRU.
* A combination of the conditioning programme and weak opposition left players short of suitable match practice.
* A failure of on-field leadership had contributed to the quarter-final defeat by France.
* The performance of referee Wayne Barnes and his touch judges had had an adverse affect on the All Blacks.
But the biggest criticism was reserved for the timing of the contentious reconditioning programme.
Tew said the en masse withdrawal of players from the Super 14 would not happen again.
"It is clear that we can't take the bulk of players out of any competition in the future unless it is part of a planned, scheduled programme of competitions."
But there was a pressing need to define a domestic and international calender that would allow international players a proper pre-season programme.
Henry has refused to publicly criticise Barnes - a position he maintained yesterday. "I'll stick to the statement I've made," he said. "We give credit to the French ... And we didn't get the bounce of the ball or the rub of the green in that game. I see no positive ... in attacking this situation any other way."
It seems Henry will take his real views on Barnes' performance to his grave but he did at least hint at them yesterday. He also gave some credence to speculation that, before the match, the All Blacks management had wanted Barnes to take charge of the fateful quarter-final.
Asked if there was one thing he would have done differently, he replied: "You want the real answer, the truthful answer? The real answer is I can't answer."
