http://www.stuff.co.nz/4644375a1823.html
S14 past its use-by date already . . I couldn't help but laugh. . . .
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What about the changes they are proposing for the Air New Zealand Cup. Promotion/relegation match. This was a farce years back when they used it. Northland went 3 years without a win and all they had to do was beat Hawkes bay to stay up. A team in the first division is always going to beat a team built around winning the 2nd division. It would be like getting the winner of the NZFC playing the bottom team of the A league.
Promotion should be automatic because then the promoted team would then be in a position to recruit for 1st division survival.
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classic
>>Meanwhile, the NZRU's "final draft decision" 
on the future of the Air NZ Cup championship was due out tomorrow and would be made public shortly afterwards. <<
on the future of the Air NZ Cup championship was due out tomorrow and would be made public shortly afterwards. <<talk about dithering, should i pass or should i run , i really can't deci.. SMACK
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Northland and Tasman are the two unions who won't be invited to be a part of the Air New Zealand Cup from next year. Sunday News has been told by two separate sources that the pair will miss out when the competition is rationalised to 12 teams.
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I cant understand the reasoning behind Northland going down at all. They are ahead of a few other provinces in nearly every criteria. If Northland go down I doubt I will watch another game of Rugby for a very long time. NZRU are sacrificing on-field credibility relegating Northland and letting Counties-Manukau and Manawatu stay.
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when have Northland ever justified their existance in the top flight, as mentioned befoer they've gone through years without winning a game, and then beat the Bay to stay up. They need to go, fee sorry for Tasman, but financially they are screwed, that will hurt the crusaders as they will have no feeder teams excent canterbury.
Queenslander 3x a year.
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northland have to go. financially poor and haven't performed on the track for a number of years now.
at least with a side like manawatu they were one of the few unions who actually made a profit, have great local support and decent youth setups in place to get better in the future. northland really will continue to be a poor team whereas say manawatu could improve to a decent side.
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Rubbish, Northland are due to record a profit this season as well as consistently finishing above Counties, Manawatu in the last 2 seasons. Manawatu did nothing to justify getting into the top division in the first place finishing 5th in division two. Manawatu have shown no real signs of improvement apart from a flukey win over canterbury in the first round. Northland matches or beats the other lower provinces in the other criteria, except the stadium and funding has been approved for a major upgrade of the current stadium. Northland has a strong rugby history and by kicking them out has potentially killed rugby North of Orewa. Financially BOP are being propped up by the NZRU they even have an NZRU appointed CEO. Its a poor decision on a number of grounds. Northland should have stayed and I think a Nelson Bays team by themselves will be more competitive on the field than Manawatu and possibly Counties on last weekends performance...though that would depend on funding for them which appears to be an issue.
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