Rugby: Southerners work on recovery plan

Israel Dagg is one of a number of key players the Highlanders need to sign up again for next season. Photo / Getty Images

The Highlanders have come up with a recovery plan to steer the franchise into the future but their chairman is remaining tight-lipped about what it involves.

Player reviews from the just-completed season have been finished but the coaches review, which should decide the future of head coach Glenn Moore, is still a couple of weeks away.

Highlanders chairman Ross Laidlaw said the board's recovery plan was aimed at improving performance in every respect from the "ball boy to the board of directors".

The Highlanders finished 12th in the Super 14, the sixth season in a row they were the bottom New Zealand side in the competition.

An extensive review has begun with Rugby Southland chief executive Roger Clark appointed as project manager to the franchise for the next three months. The NZRU, which is underwriting the franchise until the end of the 2011 season, appointed Clark.

Much of his job will be connected with contracting players but he will be also coming up with ways to get the side humming again.

"The goal is to end up with a bloody good team, that is well-coached, well-managed, that is backed by a strong and hard-working board. We want to have good playing results on the field and a sound financial performance off it," Laidlaw said.

He said it was a plan that had been authored by various people, including himself, and was a lengthy document.

The document was confidential.

"But it goes through every component of the organisation, from players, coaches to the board of directors."

Clark would be working on the plan and would come up with ideas and how the recovery would be managed before he ended his three-month stint.

The team won only three games this season, and is also believed to have made a large financial loss off the field, though Laidlaw had earlier denied it was around $400,000, as had been speculated.

Laidlaw said ultimately it would be up to the Highlanders board to decide which options would be followed up.

"Roger will be making recommendations but the board will have to decide on what gets done. Of course price will come into it. You've got to determine whether it will work and whether you can fund it."

Laidlaw said it would not be easy to turn fortunes around but he was confident it could be done. He hoped to have the plan completed by mid-August when Clark finishes his secondment.

He denied any comment on the future of Moore. Moore was employed by the New Zealand Rugby Union, and it would make comment on the coach, Laidlaw said.

Part of the plan was to contract players, as the Super 14 franchises switch to directly contracting players.

The move could benefit the Highlanders as they have more money to spend but Highlanders' chief executive Richard Reid said it was complicated with players sitting on different contracts.

Some players had contracts with just provincial unions, others had to take into account deals with the NZRU, while others had longer deals.

Reid said it was a lot more complicated than last year, and was a lengthy process. He could not say how many players were returning to the Highlanders next year.

Crucial players the franchise needs to sign next year include loose forward Adam Thomson, fullback Israel Dagg and lock Tom Donnelly.

Reid said "we're not a long way away from guys making up their mind".

- Otago Daily Times