Keeping the lid on players' pay

Provincial rugby team representatives with the winners' cup yesterday. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Teams who breach the $2 million salary cap in the new provincial rugby series will be fined - they will not forfeit competition points.

When it was suggested some sides might risk the punishment to "buy" a title, New Zealand Rugby Union deputy Steve Tew said only a couple of provinces were near the cap and the penalties would be a huge deterrent.

For the first breach, unions would be fined $3 for every dollar over the cap, $5 for a second breach within five years and $10 for a third infringement in that timeframe.

There were additional penalties if the offence was intentional or reckless. The union has appointed Craig Neil and Cameron Good as salary cap manager and adviser to monitor provinces' books.

Tew said details of players' provincial salaries were unlikely to be made public: any information would have to come from the NZRFU.

The salary cap was one of the many issues discussed yesterday at the launch of the Air New Zealand Cup. It replaces the NPC which had a 30-year history.

The new series was introduced at Mt Smart Stadium, the new home for Counties Manukau who will share the venue with the Warriors.

There will be 14 sides in the revamped competition. The extra sides are Counties, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu and Tasman.

The NZRFU was allowed to introduce the salary cap after Commerce Commission approval in June.

The union argued that, over time, the cap would create a broader spread of players and greater competition. About half of the 360 players in this year's tournament will be full professionals.

A range of discounts and additions will be applied to their payments for the salary cap.

Hawkes Bay will host Canterbury when the new series starts on July 28 in what will be a tournament of three stages with 70 games ending on an October 21 final.

Initially the series will be split into two pools of seven teams who play every other side in their section.

The top three sides from each pool then progress to the Top Six where they meet the three teams they did not play in the opening round. The remaining eight sides are divided into two repechage sections where they play the others in their section.

Each Top Six side is guaranteed a quarter-final berth where they will be joined in sudden-death play by the winners of the separate repechage sections.

"The hard part was coming up with the format," series organiser Neil Sorenson said yesterday.

"There were all sorts of models we talked about with the provincial unions. In the end it was about thinking through all the ideas and making a call."

The Ranfurly Shield is played for during the new provincial series. Canterbury will face challenges from Southland, Otago and Counties in pool play after their successful defences against South Canterbury and Wairarapa Bush.