The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) has been forced to stick with the current 14-team premier division for next year's Air New Zealand Cup, but is warning that that's not the end of the matter.
The NZRU, which announced in July that it wanted to reduce the top tier to 10 teams in order to make the competition financially viable, says that with the current player contract negotiations taking place and the threat of legal action from some provincial unions, it has no alternative but to retain the status quo.
But chairman Jock Hobbs dismisses any suggestion they could find themselves in the same situation in a year's time. It may be easy to get that impression, he says, but rolling the competition over gives them time to resolve the issues.
Mr Hobbs says that with the Rugby World Cup being held in New Zealand in 2011 a hybrid competition will be run in that year, so they effectively have until 2012 to resolve any legal problems.
Unions facing relegation threatened legal action
Chief executive Steve Tew says the NZRU has been "incredibly consultative and democratic" in seeking support for the changes it proposed, but has been frustrated by "two or three or four unions".
The provinces of Northland, Counties-Manukau, Manawatu and Tasman, all of which would have been relegated from the premier division if the new format had been implemented, had threatened legal action.
The NZRU had proposed a multi-tier system: a premier competition made up of 10 teams, a second division of six teams and a third division of 10.
Like Mr Hobbs, Mr Tew says it's inevitable that changes to the national competition will happen, and now they have more time to consider them.
