Details of planned new professional New Zealand competition revealed - report
A New Zealand-based competition featuring up to eight professional teams, including the five existing Kiwi Super Rugby franchises, is being reported as the potential future of rugby in the land of the All Blacks.
The New Zealand Herald reports it has been told by sources within New Zealand Rugby that Super Rugby as we know it is destined for the history books as officials scramble to create a new competition to allow some form of rugby to be played this year.
The Herald report states that teams from Australia and Fiji "may or may not" be involved in the plans, but long-haul flights to South Africa and Argentina will no longer be on the agenda.
Despite NZR's newly-announced Aratipu review into Super Rugby, the report indicates that there is a concession among officials that the competition has run its due course following a plummet in fan interest and engagement stretching over a decade-and-a-half.
The Herald attributes the decision to withhold New Zealand's top All Blacks from the opening two months of Super Rugby in 2007 as the catalyst for the downfall in viewership figures, with the competition seeing a drastic TV audience dip of 29 percent that year alone.
NZR sources told the Herald that the desire to keep All Blacks playing in New Zealand is at the forefront of discussions surrounding a competition reboot.
"We don't want the Brazil [football] model," an NZR official said.
"Where all your top players are in clubs offshore. We're determined to keep as many of our All Blacks here as we can."
"We can't, and we won't, turn provinces like Canterbury into fully amateur Heartland sides," they told the Herald. "But we do need to work out just how many professional teams New Zealand can afford."
No date has been set for an announcement of any form of rugby competition in New Zealand, although the preliminary findings from the Aratipu review will be presented to the NZR board by the end of June.
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Good summation Ned. Agree the Canes were out-muscled for once (except at the scrum!) by a focused Brumbies outfit. Tua deserves consideration for higher honors after the way he humbled Jordie and the Canes defense. Thankfully, his lack of eligibility for Oz keeps him from Joe’s plans. While I also agree the injuries affected the Canes performance, some players seemed to lack focus and intensity for this match. Perhaps after the Blues demolished the Brumbies, they thought it was going to be easy? A good reminder that any slip up in preparation can have a big affect on the result. Brumbies deserved that win.
Go to commentsKarl Dixon should never have been appointed this fixture, absolute disgrace, He’s not much of a referee anyway, didn't have the balls to send his mate care off
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