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Trans-Tasman partners opt for status quo

Super Rugby Pacific has been locked in until 2030 and a new nine-person board will oversee the competition and explore the creation of a transTasman women’s competition, New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia have announced.

The warring parties spent months wrangling over the new competition and the disagreements over broadcast revenue splits and formats at times went public, with RA chair Hamish McLennan threatening to set up a domestic competition.

NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson and RA counterpart Andy Marinos fronted a press conference in Sydney yesterday to announce the new deal, which will see the competition format stay as it is, but Robinson acknowledged that differences of opinion remained.

‘‘There was obviously conversations, and they were no different than what was in public, around commercial value and creating a fair and equitable split around value,’’ Robinson said yesterday.

‘‘And there were issues where possibly both unions were at different stages around things like format, player transfers, player eligibility, drafts, salary caps.

‘‘A lot of instances where it’s too soon to get too involved in detail around a lot of those competition mechanisms. So, some of those things have been parked and they’ll be picked up by the JV [joint venture] board and national unions.’’

It is understood that RA did not get the 50-50 split of broadcast revenue it had been calling for, but will still get an increase in the amount paid by NZ Rugby.

That figure currently stands at $5 million a year, but is set to lift by another $3-4m. This arrangement will run until the end of 2025, when the current broadcast deals for NZ Rugby and Rugby Australia expire.

The nine-person board will include an independent chair, four independent directors, and one representative each from NZ Rugby, RA, the New Zealand Rugby Players Association (NZRPA) and the Rugby Union Players’ Association (Rupa).

Part of the new board’s role will be to see how the women’s Super Rugby

Aupiki can be expanded, although Robinson was hopeful a cross-border finals series over two or three weeks could be held next year.

‘‘Our view is that we’d like to get into a more integrated, long format around the professional club game for women sooner rather than later,’’ Robinson said.

The confirmation of the men’s Super Rugby Pacific format – with the eight-team finals format – will disappoint some fans and will be seen as a win for Australia, which has struggled with player depth.

It is also a departure from the model initially proposed by NZ Rugby following the Aratipu report in 2020, when an eight or 10-team competition was put forward.

That would have necessitated the axing of two Australian teams, and while NZ Rugby has walked back significantly from that position Robinson indicated that they were still sceptical about Australia’s ability to support five teams.

‘‘The sustainability of the Australian teams is a question for them, really,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve had conversations about that and would prefer from our perspective to keep those behind closed doors.

‘‘I look at what’s different and what’s not so different in this competition construct [from 2020] . . . I guess what’s different is a [JV] board, which is a strong collaboration of national union interests, club interests and player interests sitting across . . . one governance body and focusing on what’s good for the fans, what’s good for entertainment, what preserves safety, and player welfare, all at the same table, all having the same conversation.

‘‘Out of that we hope it will create a huge amount of long-term value.’’

The All Blacks-Springboks rivalry in the Rugby Championship could extend beyond 2025, after all.

The world champions have been heavily linked to a shift to the Six Nations, but Robinson says that conversations throughout the year indicate that South Africa is leaning towards staying in the Rugby Championship.

Sport

en-nz

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282041921154908

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