By JAMES GARDINER and EUGENE BINGHAM
Provincial rugby unions are gunning for more heads on the NZRFU board after Wellington took the first step by telling Murray McCaw his resignation as chairman was not enough.
Mr McCaw resigned from the board yesterday after meeting his home union on Thursday night to discuss his role in the Rugby World Cup debacle.
There were strong signs from provincial chairmen last night that it would not be enough.
Wellington chairman Joe Pope said his union's clubs believed the NZRFU had not gone far enough in its response to the Eichelbaum report on how New Zealand lost its right to sub-host next year's tournament.
"We talked [with Mr McCaw] about what was right for rugby and the decision was it would be best that he resign," said Mr Pope.
Mr McCaw stood down as chairman of the NZRFU on Tuesday, but had remained on the board.
The World Cup crisis has triggered a rethink in many of the 27 unions about the structure of the NZRFU as well as the futures of the current board members.
The union chairmen will meet in a fortnight, and can either demand a special general meeting three weeks later, or force all board members to put themselves up for election at the next annual meeting in April.
A special meeting would give an opportunity for a full clearout of the remaining eight members of the board - or at least the six who were on it when the cup bid went wrong.
The other alternative is to do nothing except replace Mr McCaw through a postal ballot.
But several provincial chairmen indicated yesterday that would not be enough.
Manawatu chairman Ian McAffer said only eight unions' votes were required to call a special meeting, so it was a likely outcome.
"I wasn't surprised at Murray's resignation. Whether that will be enough to take the heat out of the situation remains to be seen, but I think probably it's unlikely that that would be sufficient."
Taranaki chairman Peter Crawford said: "We probably do need to make some changes. There was a general feeling that there was some more bloodletting to be done."
Otago's Colin Weatherall was even more blunt: "We'd be keen to see an early election of all members."
Auckland's Ken Baguley believed it would be better to wait until April, as long as all board members came up for re-election.
Some unions - including Auckland, Waikato, North Harbour, Taranaki and Otago - also want the NZRFU's structure reviewed.
Mr Baguley said there was a consensus in Auckland that the rules should be changed to make the board more representative of what rugby people wanted.
Waikato chairman Michael Crawford said grassroots administrators had a sense of detachment about what was being done on their behalf by the NZRFU hierarchy.
"I don't believe we've got a good representation across the country."
Mr McCaw's replacement as chairman, Auckland's Rob Fisher, said the resignation was "one less factor in the equation of things that we've got in front of us".
Northland chairman Warwick Syers, an NZRFU board member, said he would not chair the province's board meeting next Wednesday and would possibly not attend, even though he was elected to the NZRFU only in April.
Counties-Manukau chairman Roy Craig expressed some sympathy for Mr McCaw and his colleagues.
"We elected them and they thought they were doing what was best. Everybody is wise in hindsight."
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum's full report