Spoiler:Counties-Manakau vs Otago in the ITM Championship

In the first of NZ rugby's domestic finals this morning Tana Umaga's Counties-Manakau have thrashed Otago 41-16. Good to see one of the smaller provinces doing well - it's their first silverware since they won the old 2nd Division in 1993.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/provincial/7870608/Counties-Manukau-book-place-in-Premiership

They've been the best side in the Championship division by a stretch all season so I'm pleased that they finished the job. Be interesting to see how they go next year in the top flight.

PS, apologies to anyone (especially CP10) who didn't want to know the result. I've now changed the title.

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:PS, apologies to anyone (especially CP10) who didn't want to know the result. I've now changed the title.

Happens to the best of us.

Not sure I understand, how many divisions/provinces are there? After this there was an ad stating Canterbury were in some other ITM final...

There are only about 13. But 8 of them end up in semis.

This is the Championship final and Counties get promoted. Canterbury host Auckland in the Premiership one. Don't tell me the score.

This was informative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_rugby_union_in_New_Zealand

Does somebody get relegated then while Counties get promoted? Interesting set-up in NZ (now I know it better). Probably the best for team and player development.

Pete, who feeds which S15 Franchise?

Counties feeds the Chiefs and Otago feeds the Highlanders though both don't provide too many players right now.

Morgannwg wrote:This was informative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_rugby_union_in_New_Zealand

Does somebody get relegated then while Counties get promoted? Interesting set-up in NZ (now I know it better). Probably the best for team and player development.

Pete, who feeds which S15 Franchise?

Hawkes Bay drops down after they finished last on the Championship table.

Technically now the S15 franchises are free to contract players from everywhere, but the provinces within each region still own "their" franchise (any profits are dished out pro-rata based on provincial registered player numbers)

As far as province allocation goes (and I'm including the amateur Heartland provinces in italics, as they also share in profits)
Blues:
Auckland
North Harbour
Northland

Chiefs:
Bay of Plenty
Counties Manakau
Waikato
King Country
Thames Valley

Hurricanes:
Hawkes Bay
Manawatu
Taranaki
Wellington
East Coast
Horowhenua Kapiti
Poverty Bay
Wairarapa-Bush
Wanganui



Crusaders:
Canterbury
Tasman
Buller
Mid Canterbury
South Canterbury
West Coast

Highlanders
Otago
Southland
North Otago

The provinces still own the Franchises for now but they are /will be/could be up for sale.

Who pays who/what? Where do any subsidiries (if any) come from, Ford? (just a guess).

nganboy wrote:Counties feeds the Chiefs and Otago feeds the Highlanders though both don't provide too many players right now.

Maybe not directly to the Chiefs but Counties could be providing up to 10 players to Super Rugby sides this year which is quite a development.

Morgannwg wrote:Who pays who/what? Where do any subsidiries (if any) come from, Ford? (just a guess).

NZRU pays the SXV players (if they're NZ qualified) and pockets the TV money and also Adidas's shirt money. Franchises pay their coaches (I think) and management staff as well as travel costs, ground costs etc, and earn revenue from ticket sales - I presume they also get money from BNZ (Bank) as shirt sponsor, though given that all 5 teams have the same sponsor, perhaps not. Ford used to be the shirt sponsor, and I think they still provide players' vehicles to the ABs.

Provinces pay their players for ITM Cup duty - a nice wee top-up for those with Super contracts. They earn their cash from ticket sales, their share of Super team profits (if any), team sponsors and jersey manufacturers. Not sure if they get any TV money.

Thanks Pete. Interesting. NZRU seems to be paying out a lot of money. When you consider how many decent rugby players there are playing in NZ then there must be a lot of out-goings. Crowds didn't look very big when I watched S15 but that can be misleading when you play in 40-50,000 capacity stadiums. Are your players well paid? Obviously Carter and McCaw are, but I understand they also have their own sponsorship deals, which would be an incentive not to look for big bucks in France.

Morgannwg wrote:Thanks Pete. Interesting. NZRU seems to be paying out a lot of money. When you consider how many decent rugby players there are playing in NZ then there must be a lot of out-goings. Crowds didn't look very big when I watched S15 but that can be misleading when you play in 40-50,000 capacity stadiums. Are your players well paid? Obviously Carter and McCaw are, but I understand they also have their own sponsorship deals, which would be an incentive not to look for big bucks in France.

Minimum wage for a Super XV player is around $75k (and there's 140 of them) - or £35-40k, though the players will also be getting a bit more top-up pay from their NPC provinces. Obviously those in the starting XV will get more, and All Blacks more again.

The nice statbunker site wasn't terribly good last time I looked at it's attendance figures for the NZ teams, but I would expect the 5 teams to be averaging 10k-20k per match.