NZRU Elite Premier League. (NZEPL)

Hairbrained suggestion but one that might save rugby in the Southern Hemisphere.  Forget South Africa, Australia, Argentina as rugby powerhouses, it's not working.  Let's create a Super Competition in our shores with similar make up of say the EPL (UK).  New Zealand has the infrastructure to host a very competitive NZEPL (NZ Elite Premier League).

How I see it.

1.  Competition (NZEPL) follows the Mitre 10 Cup (played from March to June.)

2.  There are 12 teams in this NZEPL.
a. Taniwhas - Northland and North Harbour
b. Auckland Blues - Auckland only
c. Chiefs - Waikato and Counties Manukau
d. BOP Geysers - Rotorua  and Tauranga
e.  Taranaki Ferdinands - King Country, Taranaki
f.  Central Vulcans - Taupo, Whanganui, Manawatu
g.  The East Costers - Ngati Porou, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay
h.  Hurricanes - Wairarapa, Horowhenua, Kapiti Coast, Wellington.
i.  Makos - Tasman, North Canterbury, West Coast,
j. Crusaders - Christchurch, Mid and South Canterbury
k.  Highlanders - North Otago, Otago, and Southland
l - PI Panthers - Tonga, Samoa and Fiji

3.  The beauty of this competition is that it's based on the EPL, teams already exist in some format and you have to introduce a roster for all teams that have this format as I see it.  Lets say all teams have a wider Squad of 30. There have to be 18 NZ players on contract, with the remaining 12 being contracted during the summer contract period from Aus, SA, Arg, and Jap players.  The PI Panthers will also fill places from without.

4.  The competition would be a single round of games with the top five going through to a Grand Final series. No Bonus Points - winner takes all and if tied scores, Points Differential and previous results.

Yeah hairbrained but SuperRugby is dead in it's tracks. And a top flight competition that has less rather than more is an option.

Figures -
Foreign players - 144
NZ Resident - 216

11 weeks round robin with 3 weeks of finals ergo 3 months of NZEPL Rugby.

I like the idea especially if you also introduce transfer windows and fees.  And the other international competitions can run concurrently and be a feeder to cover injury.  Plus the revenue for the competition is solely NZRU managed with a fee applied to those countries that feed into NZEPL.  We also have Sky as the Main (and named) broadcaster.

New Zealand can sustain this proposal  Rugby is strong here and with foresight can be even stronger.
Oh and yeah, the Quad Nations competition runs after the NZEPL with the June International games still being held.

Don't let the Blues Get you Down!!

Word coming out from NZRU headquarters is that there will be a change to criteria for teams playing in Super Rugby come 2017.  I have it on good authority that they will be bringing in Performance based criteria for teams playing in the Super XV rugby competition.  The criteria apparently pertain to levels of excellence on and off the field and fostering the talent pool that exists in this country. I believe these may be some of those criteria:

1. A New Zealand Super Rugby Franchise MUST finish in the top ten on the table for three consecutive years.  If it fails to meet this criteria the NZRU will disband that team and seek a franchise from other parts of the country.

2.  The NZRU will identify with a team that fails to make the criteria after two years and implement change within the franchise to get performances up and consistent instead of leaving it up to franchise management.

So with that in mind I did a little delving and discovered some interesting facts.  In the last 4 years of Super XV Rugby, only three NZ teams have finished below 10th place,  The Canes finished 11th in  2013, the Landers finished 14th in 2013, and the Blues have finished 12th in 2012, 10th in 2013, 10th in 2014, 14th in 2015.

So if one was to judge performances across the board and average those four years results, you'd have the Canes averaging 7th place, the Chiefs averaging 3rd place, the Crusaders averaging 4th place, the Landers averaging 8th place and the Blues last in 11th place.

Obviously from these results, if NZRU were to look at their criteria there is clearly a case for the
Auckland Blues to be disbanded and a new franchise formed to take it's place.  Sad for New Zealand Rugby I guess with their long history in the game, but today there is no romanticism in seeing a franchise struggle continually.  If the NZRU were to place their second criteria above in place, the whole management structure would be gone now, and new blood put in place, so that 2016 is a resurgent year for that franchise.

If however they still fail, then in 2016/17 there is a side waiting in the wings to fill that franchise.  The Volcanoes are well into planning stage for a bid to have another Super XV Franchise.  Lead by Manawatu and Hawkes Bay with Taranaki brought back into the central region for rugby, the Volcanoes have all that is required to fill the void left by the Blues.  Super Rugby will be stronger for that move.  It will also give those provinces greater ability to hold onto ITM players in the region who are currently seconded to other Super Rugby franchises and end up playing for that regions ITM Cup team.

Sure that leaves Northland, North Harbour and Auckland without representation but so what?  They have been robbing the rest of the country for years, their turn to be robbed.

There was a song from long go by Bachman Turner Overdrive - Don't Let The Blues Get You Down.  Same could be said for New Zealand Super Rugby.

ITM Cup - how it should be.

For a number of years now the existing ITM Cup format has been in place, and by and large most folks think it works.  I don't.

Playing in the top level in this country is about being the best and to be the best you have to perform to the highest level in every game.  Sure you're not going to win every game but there is the capacity in any competition for that to happen.  Ideally the team that performs the best over a season takes the plaudits, look at how the EPL is structured.  So why have finals rugby in a winner takes all competition?

And further more why have two separate competitions?  For the uninitiated there are 14 teams in the ITM Cup, 7 in the Premiership (top tier) and 7 in the Championship (second tier)  Each team in each competition plays each other once and to add flavour to the mix there are four crossover games between each competition.  Confused?

Well it gets better.  After round robin play, the top four teams in each competition play semifinals amongst each other, the winners going to a final.  In the Championship there is an added bonus for the winner, promoted to the Premiership.  Yes that means four teams have a chance of being promoted, seemingly regardless of their position in the top four, and as has happened, the team that was the form team through round robin can miss promotion through upset results.  Of course the same happens in the Premiership without the carrot of promotion.

So what is wrong with this format?  Well I like the EPL format.  All 14 teams in the ITM Cup should

be playing to finish top of the table and win the competition.  Some (NZRU for one) complain to do this the season would be extended.  Bollocks I say.  By my calculations if all teams played each other once a season, the season proper would need just one more week!!  Not too much to ask surely?

As an added bonus, (yup NPC days) the bottom team in this format gets to play for promotion/relegation with the Heartland Rugby Comp champ with the winner playing their next season in ITM Cup.

If the current format stands, which no doubt it will, then the winner in round robin in Championship should get automatic promotion with the last placegetter in the Premiership being demoted.  I can't see why not. Simple really.

I sense many agree with this.  I'd like to see my team play ALL the teams in the competition and as it stands I don't.  The Turbos this year didn't play Canterbury, Taranaki, and Tasman, the top three teams in the Premiership.  How much good rugby did we miss out on?

Finals Rugby in ITM Cup is a wrought.  It's not a cash cow for the NZRU and it's only followed by the teams involved supporters.  Get those three extra games and the income is greater surely?