12 Dec 2010

NZRU chief says the worst's not over

6:12 am on 12 December 2010

The New Zealand Rugby Union's chief executive Steve Tew says some provinces are finding 2010 very challenging financially and he's not expecting an improvement next year.

The ITM Cup competition will be compressed to eight weeks because of the World Cup.

Tew says it'll be 2102 before the NZRU will know how the new two-tier championship will work in a normal year.

In the meantime he says people who predicted the economy would improve this year were way ahead of themselves and 2011 probably won't be any better.