Rugby: Revamp riles Crusaders

Super Rugby's most successful franchise, the Crusaders, has asked for a "level playing field" if its key feeder province outside Canterbury - Tasman – is shunted down a division in the provincial revamp.

Under the current contracting model, the Crusaders face an awkward situation if, as expected, Tasman are one of four teams to be bladed from the existing 14- team Air New Zealand Cup to make a 10-team premier division next year.

"As a franchise, we are not allowed to contract players directly," said Crusaders chairman Murray Ellis. "We need two provincial unions with salary caps.

"Looking at a glass halffull scenario, we will say Tasman will be one of the 10 but, if they are not, what's our Plan B? It's defi nitely an issue for us in the short term."

It's an issue because the Crusaders have depended on Tasman to accommodate players they wanted to attract but who would not fit under the salary cap or who breached the rule that only one All Black could be signed per calendar year.

Contingent on what happens with the renegotiation of the Sanzar broadcasting contract, franchises are likely to be able to contract players directly. That will still create a potential issue for the Crusaders next year if Canterbury is the only professional union in the franchise.

The difficulty is that, while Tasman will still be in the Crusaders' catchment area, it will be harder to attract players to Tasman if it drops a division - and it is thought the salary cap for that level will be severely cut anyway.

"I don't expect a lot of sympathy from my franchise counterparts," Ellis admitted, "but we need some sort of protection, whether that is being able to franchise directly straight away or a temporary cap increase for Canterbury."

The Crusaders' concerns are real but at least their future is secured. For the next four months at least six, probably seven, of the provincial unions will be on tenterhooks wondering if they have a professional future.

A 'solvency test and assessable criteria' will be used to determine the 10 unions who will participate in the inaugural premier division.

The assessment will take place after this year's competition on November 20.

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew said last week he didn't expect any legal challenges, as the provinces had agreed to the process. It might be wishful thinking.

"I can't speak for the other unions but based on what has happened in the past, [a legal action] is possible," said Taranaki Rugby Union chief executive Mark Robinson.

The former All Black centre said he hoped that wasn't the case, as there was a recognition around the table that there needed to be changes to the provincial game.

"There seems to be a collective result not to go down that route but the risk is when you move out of that collective environment and have to communicate the changes to your individual stakeholders. There will no doubt be some that feel harshly done by."

After the announcement of the new structure, which will see the four teams excised from the top division join two of the 12 Heartland unions in a six-team middle tier, Tew acknowledged there was potential for "anxiety".

"The clear message from provincial unions was that we needed to act sooner rather than later."