How the new New Zealand Rugby board can save the NPC – Tight Five with Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith is Newstalk ZB and Gold Sport’s lead rugby commentator and reporter. He’s been a sports journalist since 2010 and has travelled to three Rugby World Cups.

ANALYSIS

A question...

So now the New Zealand Rugby governance vote has been done, what will the new board do – if anything – to the National Provincial Championship (NPC)? The provinces have been painted as having their heads in the sand regarding the competition and its place in the modern rugby landscape. While that’s not entirely accurate, there seems to be a lack of a game plan on how to make it work in the 2020s rather than being a financial millstone.

The current model isn’t fit for purpose and New Zealand Rugby has essentially said as much. Whether it’ll continue to chug along draining money courtesy of a board with three representatives carrying provincial board experience appears likely, but change is not impossible. While the NPC still holds pride of place in some provinces – look at the scenes in New Plymouth last year when Taranaki won the final – there are major fundamental issues around cost and interest levels that need fixing.

An explanation...

In New Zealand, we’re always quick to find a reason why things shouldn’t be done, whether it’s infrastructure like public transport or new facilities or, in this case, sporting competitions. But to my mind, this is an idea that would save the NPC as a financially and competitively sustainable competition for the future – albeit without an obvious Ranfurly Shield challenge mechanism. I believe the current structure should be torn up and started again, including the Heartland Championship.

A suggestion...

Taking a leaf out of New Zealand Football’s book, I’d funnel the 26 provincial unions into NPC North, NPC Central and NPC South divisions. There are nine in the South Island, so they all go in the South. The bottom half of the North Island gets either eight or nine in a Central Division, then the North Division gets the rest. Every team plays everyone from their division in a round robin, with the top two from each going into the playoffs to find an eventual national winner. Travel costs would be slashed, with far fewer flights needed compared to bus travel.

An observation...

You’d also have to restrict the financial power of the bigger unions, which seem to throw around money like they’re in The Great Gatsby. It’s not the only lesson they could take from that book, I’d suggest. A much, much lower salary cap would incentivise talent to be spread further. The former Heartland Championship sides would initially be weaker, but if the playing field could be evened up, it could create a richer competition and true tribalism.

A prediction...

You’d see players originally from Horowhenua-Kāpiti, for example, play for their home provinces rather than going to the older, bigger provincial brother to further a career. A player not getting a look in for Canterbury could head to Buller or the West Coast and still be playing in the same competition. You’d lose historic fixtures like Canterbury versus Auckland but you’d retain regional rivalries and add even more (North Otago trying to beat Otago, for example). A real risk would be the gulf in class and the step up to Super Rugby Pacific level and above – but with enough handbrakes in place in terms of the financial structure of the competition and talent recruitment, you could soon mitigate that. It would reset the NPC into a modern competition with clear pathways forward to Super and beyond.