Union misery over changes

There will be tears before bed as a consequence of revamping next year's NPC, but that is not something the New Zealand Rugby Union will apologise for.

The NZRU has received 14 bids to be part of next year's Premier NPC competition. It is only willing, however, to have up to 12 teams in the new look format which means that at least two of Counties-Manukau, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, Nelson Bays/Marlborough (Tasman), Northland or Southland are going to be confined to life in the amateur lower division until 2009.

The NZRU won't couch it in such stark terms, but those confined to the lower division feel they are effectively being handed a death sentence, especially given the new arrangements are guaranteed for three years.

"I think it would be a disaster," says Hawke's Bay chief executive Ian Condon when asked what the future would hold should the Magpies miss out on a place in the first division competition.

"We would be confined to playing in a competition that would effectively be an extension of our club competition. We wouldn't be able to attract sponsors and our players would move away to other unions where they could play at a higher level."

It is being taken as a given that Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago are certain of places next year. Taranaki, North Harbour and Bay of Plenty are seen as certainties given that bids will be evaluated on such factors as past performances, population, playing numbers and financial strength.

That leaves the other two current first division unions and the four current second division unions scrapping for just four places. There had been widespread hope the NZRU would renege on the numbers and accept 14 teams, but deputy chief executive Steve Tew says that is unlikely.

"The fact it has been capped at this stage means there will be disappointment if certain bids don't make it. In terms of the pre-requisite criteria, there is no room for giving teams time to get things sorted. If, in the board's view, they are not up to it after assessing criteria, they will not be in.

"Any decision to accept more than 12 teams would absolutely be made at board level and it would have to be a compelling case. Not only would the 14 bids have to be so convincing you couldn't turn any of them down, they would also have to be convinced that a 14 team competition was sustainable.

"The work we did including financial modelling and the likely competitive strength we would need to feed into five Super 12 franchises, was that any more than12 would be hard to sustain on our player base and financially

The NZRU is expected to make its decision on May 27.