NPC regeneration: Three options on the table as New Zealand Rugby engines change

Before Christmas, it may be known what the national provincial rugby league championship will be like in New Zealand next year.

The No After achieving a proposed renewal on the line a year ago, the New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is in the process of trying to review the competition ahead of the 2022 season.

NZR was not in a position to comment while consultations with stakeholders, including 14 UPs, were underway, but is expected to be in a position to do so in the coming weeks.

It is understood that there are three options on the table, including dividing the 14-team competition into North and South groups, It is a concept discussed last year.

A source from the county union he spoke to things, He was optimistic the change would go over the line this time, but added that getting 14 UP on the same streak was easier said than done.

If the change continues, no matter what format is chosen, the consensus among those contacted things They wanted a competition where all 14 teams could win the title.

In the wake of the significant financial impact on both domestic rugby and New Zealand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, NZR pushed for renewal ahead of the 2021 season, Just to not impress stakeholders in time.

However, CEO Mark Robinson made it clear at the time that they would lead the change again at the conclusion of the 2021 competition.

Given the progress NZR had made between November 2020 and March 2021, when they announced that this year’s competition would continue unchanged, the board was in a strong position to break the streak this time.

The current format, which includes a top-flight league and championship competition with a promotion and relegation system, has been in place since 2011, but a review of the provincial game, known as the Nga Miro Report, recommended a change.

Canterbury assistant coach Robin Thorne and his Wellington counterpart Leo Crowley and Taranaki’s coach, Neil Barnes, have been calling for a change for the past 12 months.

Barnes, who coached this year’s championship winner, Taranaki, He was particularly candid when NZR announced that the ups and downs in 2021 had been cancelled Because the three Oakland teams were forced out of the competition due to a delta outbreak in the city.

He called the current format “flawed,” and asked NZR to “get its head out of the sand” and turn the competition into a competition in which all 14 teams could win the grand prize.

Taranaki was the only unbeaten team in the NPC this year. They became the first team in the tournament to sweep all four opponents in the Premier League on their way to winning all ten matches.

Before the main tournament split, when there was a 15-week window (NPCs are now played for 12 weeks), the 14 teams faced each other and played each other, before the top four teams reached the semi-finals.

When the North-South option was proposed last year, It was understood that he could save about $700,000 on travel and accommodation.

The unified division of the northern and southern regions would likely group Hook’s Bay, Manawatu, Wellington, Tasman, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland into the southern region, leaving Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Manukau, North Harbor, and the Bay of Plenty. and Tranaki in the north.

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