At the union's annual meeting at the Harbour club rooms in Port Chalmers last night, board deputy chairman Keith Cooper said it had spent much of 2015 working on a strategy for rugby in the future.
Cooper was standing in for chairman Andrew Rooney who had moved to Wellington late last year and did not seek re-election.
Cooper said it had been a busy few months for the board and it had set up processes and sys› tems for the union to be sustainable.
It had almost gone into liquidation in2012 because of a debt of $2 million but Cooper said last night those days were well behind it.
He said the union was well set up for 2016 and beyond.
The clear strategy was around getting more and better coaches, retaining players and having good spectator and sponsor support.
The level of spectators was believed to have increased at the grassroots level but had dropped off at the ITM Cup games.
The union posted a loss of $162,000 for the 2015 year but it was said to be an unusually tough year.
Director Rowena Davenport said not hosting a test match cost the union $113,000, commercial support dropped by $240,000 and costs to cover injured contracted players ballooned out by $100,000.
But the union was hosting a Welsh test this year and New Zealand Rugby had committed to granting more money to provincial unions through to 2020.
The union also took a 54.3% ownership of the provincial share of the Highlanders franchise.
Union general manager Richard Kinley said player numbers had remained static at 7623, but he was pleased as many sports were experiencing a decline in numbers.
Teenage player retention was up 2% to 55%, which he said may not seem a lot but it was something to be pleased about.
Two new directors were appointed to replace Rooney and Steve Quin.
Dunedin chartered accountant Peter McCormack and Polson Higgs business consultant Hamish Walker were added to the board.
Walker is a referee who stood for National in the seat of Dunedin South at the last election.
Cooper said the board was looking for financial management skills to bring to the board.
Des Smith was appointed president of the union for the next two years, taking over from Willis Paterson.
Smith beat Roy Daniels, of the Southern club, to the position.
A new chairman will be appointed at the first meeting of the new board.
Life member Adrian Read said he was disappointed only two sitting directors were at the annual meeting last night.
Cooper said three were overseas and two were travelling within New Zealand, and it was just unfortunate timing they could not attend, rather than an intention to miss it.
