'A very challenging time': New Zealand Rugby set to lay off 50 percent of staff - report

As the economic pinch of coronavirus continues to make itself felt, New Zealand Rugby is reportedly set to let go of 50 percent of their 180 full-time staff.

According to a report from RNZ, half of the organisation's staff have been told they will be made redundant, with others set to reapply for their jobs.

"We're working through consultation with our people at the moment on that and it's obviously a challenging time for rugby so we are taking all steps to make sure we communicate directly with our staff," NZR chief executive Mark Robinson told RNZ.

"It's an incredibly challenging time with Covid with what we're dealing with right around the country, we're seeing situations where businesses are in challenging positions and we're no different with the significant reduction of revenue we're seeing through the course of the year."

The news comes a week after NZR posted a $7.4m revenue deficit for last year, with the pandemic forcing the governing body to stare down the barrel of a $120m loss in 2020.

Staff had already had 20 percent of their pay slashed in a bid to save costs as a result of the postponement of rugby worldwide.

"We've been in dialogue with them for the last week or two," Robinson said.

"We're dealing directly with our staff on this. It's a very challenging time for New Zealand Rugby."

RNZ reports that Robinson had indicated the possibility of job losses prior to the virus outbreak in New Zealand in February as the organisation looked to highlight inefficiencies and explore revenue growth options.

Super Rugby in New Zealand is scheduled to get back up and running within a month following Thursday's announcement of Super Rugby Aotearoa, which will get underway once the country returns to alert level two.