Yes I am sure that rugby does get too much coverage but the current sports editor, at The Press, Greg Ford is a rugby nutter but we did OK when the ASB semi finals were on, thankfully we have Tony Smith on deck.
I think The Press coverage for sport overall is now somewhat limited some days only a page or two, likely to be reflected by the drop in advertising due to present climate, quakes etc. The more ads the more pages so the more sports coverage so most also work in reverse.
The weekly double page spread on Metro / Country rugby is paid by rugby.
The NZ Herald have a great football page on Tuesdays, all the UK, European etc tables so they must think it sells papers as has been going for a fair while now.