At one point, Super Rugby was a powerhouse competition that pitted the top domestic sides from South Africa; New Zealand and Australia against each other. However, as the years have gone on and several expansions of the tournament; it's lost its prestige.
South Africa's exit post-COVID had further weakened its luster. If reports are to be true, New Zealand exiting the competition would be catastrophic.
New Zealand Rugby and its stakeholders will discuss three proposals on the future of the game in Aotearoa during crunch meetings in Wellington on Thursday, according to a report.
New Zealand’s continued participation in Super Rugby Pacific will be one of the options discussed, according to The Post journalist, Paul Cully; who has obtained the NZ Rugby document titled Rugby Summit – Men’s Elite Competition Possible Options.
The bombshell option to ditch Super Rugby Pacific would see a new 8-10 team national competition to replace the southern hemisphere’s premier club tournament as well as the NPC (The National Provincial Championship - which is an annual, men's round-robin rugby union competition organised by New Zealand Rugby).
The report emphasises the fact that the push to replace Super Rugby with this tournament, "does not reflect NZ Rugby’s position and has originated from the provincial unions setting the scene for a showdown before NZ Rugby makes a decision on the future in late October."
Under this proposal, all other rugby underneath this competition would be deemed amateur; with each of the 8-10 teams receiving player payments of $8m-$10m and would be run by provincial unions.
This would allow possible private investments into the unions; while NZ Rugby would supply the licences to the teams. NZRPA chief executive, Rob Nichol, floated a similar idea to the same publication in February this year with the report stating that cutting Australian Rugby adrift would "be the biggest change to rugby since the sport went professional."
Furthermore, this isn’t likely to solve the global calendar issue, as it reported that the competition would remain in a similar window to Super Rugby (February-June window) from 2028 – it would also require tough negotiations with Australia to exit the joint Super Rugby venture.
Another option that has been tabled is the expansion of Super Rugby Pacific with New Zealand adding a further two teams.This is known as Option C in the document with a new entity known as "SPR Hold Co" set up to operate the tournament.
"SRP HoldCo holds cross-border, pooled team commercial rights, funds logistics, marketing. NZR and RA keep broadcast control," the document states.
The report explains that “the five Super Rugby clubs and their provincial unions would again be amalgamated, reducing the number of high-performance environments from 19 to 14 across the country.”
The document states that this proposal “would require Rugby Australia agreement to be convinced of the financial viability and strategic value of the expansion clubs.”
Lastly, Option A would see single-city Super Rugby Pacific organisations form a centralised “SRP HoldCo” to operate the competition.
The proposal would represent a major restructure of the New Zealand game and could see the country move away from its current partnership with Rugby Australia in Super Rugby Pacific.
The Post reports the other options are expanding Super Rugby Pacific by up to two teams, or retaining Super Rugby and the NPC while combining the five existing New Zealand Super Rugby clubs with their provincial unions in Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.
The expansion option would require Rugby Australia’s agreement; while the five-city model is designed to reduce costs and duplication.
All three remain indicative proposals and will be discussed at Thursday’s summit. NZ Rugby is reportedly targeting a final recommendation for its board in December; with projected losses of NZ$66-million (R618.7-million) between 2027 and 2031 adding urgency to the process.
NZ Rugby could lose as much as NZ$66-million (R618-million) over the next five years.
This is according to a leaked report, which warns that its current financial model is, "clearly unsustainable."
The confidential document, titled Rugby System Programme – Rugby Summit Pre-read, outlines the scale of the financial challenge facing NZ Rugby as it looks to cut annual costs by NZ$20-million (R187-million) from 2028.
It follows another leaked report, prepared by Deloitte in conjunction with executives from New Zealand’s five Super Rugby clubs; which reportedly warned that the competition’s existing model could become structurally unsustainable within five years.
According to Stuff, each of the five clubs recorded at least one annual net loss between 2019 and 2025. The Hurricanes, for example, posted a NZ$1.4-million (R13-million) loss in 2023 and almost NZ$2-million (R19-million) in 2025.
NZ Rugby itself is reportedly forecast to record a net loss of NZ$27-million (R253-million) in 2026, with total player payments across NZ Rugby and the provincial unions amounting to NZ$95-million (R889-million).
The leaked document projects cumulative net losses of NZ$107-million (R1-billion) between 2024 and 2028 when adjusted for once-off items such as last year’s INEOS settlement.
NZ Rugby reported a NZ$19.5-million (R183-million) book loss for 2025 despite generating record revenue of NZ$285-million (R2.67-billion).
At the time, NZ Rugby chairman, David Kirk, stressed that the figure didn't represent a cash loss and pointed to cash reserves of NZ$174.5-million (R1.63-billion) as evidence of the organisation’s strong cash position.
However, the latest report reportedly warns those reserves could be depleted significantly without changes to the existing model. If no significant reforms are made, NZ Rugby’s cash reserves are projected to fall to NZ$72-million (R674-million) by the end of 2031.
It will be absolutely tragic If this plan comes to fruition. Although I don't actively watch Super Rugby Pacific; I am aware that the competition will lose even more viewers if this happens.
The 'good' news is that I doubt Australia will greenlight this move. This will most definitely anger them. It's a real mess when you have to hear something that affects you through the public domain.
To me, the above paragraph sets a bad image for New Zealand Rugby.