Richard Loe: Give cup a chance to shine

Maybe the first reaction to the new Air New Zealand Cup is that it is confusing, that it adds fuel to those who say there is too much rugby these days and that it will leave people a bit cold when it produces one-sided results.

But, like anything new, it can take a while to get used to. I'm in the camp that says we give it a while to settle in before anyone makes too harsh a judgement on it.

I know there are those who say this is now very much a third-tier rugby competition and that it has become "the new club rugby". I can understand how people might think that - but I don't agree.

The main aim of this competition is to help build a winning All Blacks team and to make the game more accessible and attractive. Bringing up the Northlands, Hawke's Bays and Manawatus is designed to draw more people into the provincial game - players and spectators.

There will be more players on view, as many All Blacks and some Super 14 players will be unavailable.

Chris Jack, for example, may only turn out on a rare occasion or two for Tasman but, as they have players such as Greg Feek and Rico Gear, they may be able to shake up the big guys. Once you get through All Blacks and other players who may not be fronting up, that leaves openings which can only be good for the game.

Spectators might be a problem. I worry a bit about how unions such as Manawatu will fare and whether people will turn off the new format if there are too many mismatches.

Just look at Canterbury's draw. They take on Hawke's Bay in the first round. Then they meet Northland, Waikato and Southland, then there's a bye and then they play Otago in the sixth round.

That's a long time to get to a key match and it remains to be seen whether the NZRU can sell this new competition to the rugby public - and that's even before you get into confusing territory like repechages designed to keep up interest in the also-ran provinces.

I don't think you can accuse this competition of adding to the "too much rugby" theory, even if there are 22 more matches in the top division this year, all on TV.

Some say too much rugby was behind there being a few empty seats at the Bledisloe Cup test at Jade Stadium last week. I don't buy that. They were "fringe" seats and I think price is an issue - there were not many kids at the test - and you have to understand just how cold it was after the snow.

So the Air New Zealand Cup will stand or fall on the quality of the product. That's where I worry a bit about the downside of this new format. But, as I said at the beginning, I'm going to give it a bit of time, as competitions like this tend to build interest and work up to the meaty games.

Thirteen weeks is a long period to maintain interest but perhaps the best time to judge this new format is after the repechages and final.