New Zealand Rugby expects the next step in contracting our top women's players to be finalised in the next couple of weeks.
Photo: AFP
The Black Ferns' fifth World Cup victory in August led to renewed calls for women players in the national side to have professional contracts and wages like their male counterparts.
New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew says work with those contracts is progressing well.
"We're in negotiations with the players through the Players Association to expand our collective agreement to cover our top fifteen's womens players and those negotiations are progressing nicely and we hope to make some announcements in the next week or two."
Last year Tew said there were not enough competitions to sustain full-time professional careers for women rugby players comparable to those for the All Blacks.
Tew says they're now looking into that issue.
"We've agreed to a scoping exercise to look at what should the competition structure for women look like starting in 2019."
"Obviously we've go a sevens programme, we have the Farah Palmer Cup (provincial), we have club rugby and the Black Ferns programme, but what else needs to be put in place."
He says they're finalising the last couple of fixtures for the Black Ferns programme.
Meanwhile New Zealand Rugby will tender to host an intergrated men's and women's World Sevens Series tournament in New Zealand from 2020, but say changes will have to be made to the format.
The Rugby Sevens at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton. Photo: Photosport NZ
New Zealand has hosted a men's tournament since 2000 with this year's event moving from Wellington to Hamilton.
The three intergrated tournaments this season run over three days rather than two.
NZR CEO Steve Tew says the logistics of an intergrated tournament are complicated.
"You either have to go to a three day tournament which in our view is not the best practice for the players because it prolongs the tournament and if you're wanting to treat the men and women on an equal footing, as we would want to, then sharing the ground and getting a timetable of an intergrated tournament is complex."
"I know World Rugby is looking at format of tournaments which will be part of this tender process."
Tew says they may have to look at using a second field to get through the programme over two days.
He says they hope to have the Black Ferns Sevens involved in some form in Hamilton next year.
-RNZ
