Rugby: McAlister to rejoin Blues

All Blacks coach Graham Henry could be working with Luke McAlister again this year. Photo / Getty Images

The final piece of the Luke McAlister jigsaw is expected to fall in place this week when he declares his allegiance to North Harbour and the Blues.

The 25-year-old has not been short of alternative offers, with the Hurricanes especially keen to bring him to Wellington.

But McAlister has Harbour in his blood and has come home to be close to his family and daughter.

The key to striking a deal with his former province is understood to be a little-publicised agreement reached last year with the New Zealand Rugby Union. The national body announced it will now fund 75 per cent of All Blacks' provincial salaries if they are selected for the Tri Nations.

McAlister has signed a separate deal with the NZRU to cover his Super 14 and All Black commitments but he also needs to sign a provincial contract to be eligible for Super 14.

Senior players like McAlister usually expect around $100,000 for their provincial deal. That will leave Harbour having to find about $25,000 to pay McAlister, should he make the All Black Tri Nations squad.

If he doesn't, Harbour will have to find the full sum but the consolation will be that McAlister is available to play for them without any All Black responsibilities.

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The latest crazy idea out of South Africa is for them to kick off an expanded Super 14 two weeks before Australia and New Zealand.

The South Africans are adamant they do not want to play any Super Rugby fixtures in the June international window. If, however, no rugby was played in that window, the proposed Super 15 would not finish before the start of the Currie Cup.

One way of avoiding playing during the June window and still finishing ahead of the Currie Cup is to kick off in mid-February but Australia and New Zealand resolutely refuse to budge on their position of the competition starting no earlier than the first weekend of March.

The solution brokered by the South Africans is that their teams can begin the new competition in mid-February and play two rounds within their own conference before the New Zealand and Australian conferences open for action in early March. That way, the South African sides would not have to play any games during the June window, while the Australian and New Zealand sides would each play two games in that period.

The problem with that scenario is that the likes of the Waratahs, Crusaders, Hurricanes and Chiefs will be seriously weakened as a result of not having their Wallabies and All Blacks available. The South African sides, on the other hand, would have their Springboks in action in February and not be asked to play any games without them.

This proposal has been rejected by the NZRU and the tension is now mounting as to whether agreement is ever going to be reached.

Hopes were high last weekend that a South African board meeting would lead to a decision to split the Currie Cup into a pool of six teams and one of eight teams. That proposal has been rejected and now the challenge is finding a way to structure a workable and meaningful format that starts in early March and ends by early July.

If the South Africans won't agree to play during the June window and the Australians and New Zealanders won't budge on the early March start, then a break-up of the Sanzar alliance is inevitable.