Kiwi plan to oust Super 10

RUGBY UNION

A New Zealand group led by the former All Black coach, John Hart, has unveiled a NZ$60m (£25m) plan to create a "Super Union," according to this morning's New Zealand Herald.

The paper said that the Super Union would involve six composite sides from New Zealand and two from Australia, to replace the Super 10 series, which involves South African and Pacific island teams.

The scheme would see a weekly round-robin competition and then a finals format in the three months from March next year.

Squads of 30 players would be limited by a salary cap, with the competition soaking up about NZ$12m in players' wages each year.

The proposal has the backing of New Zealand's pay-TV network Sky Television, whose main shareholders include Time-Warner and the state-owned Television New Zealand.

The Herald said Sky would need to link up with an Australian channel to distribute their rugby package and that Channel Seven, which currently has the rights to screen rugby in Australia, would win the major contract. Other games would be shown on Rupert Murdoch's pay channel, Foxtel.

Murdoch is already embroiled in a global row over the setting up of a rugby league super league.

IB plays safe on cards, page 38