They are two of the less fashionable provinces but Hawkes Bay and North Otago are also genuine success stories. Rugby writer Hayden Meikle talked to the chief executives of the respective unions to get their feelings on where the game is heading.
Mike Bishop is not one to hold grudges but he remembers vividly being interviewed on radio a couple of years ago before Hawkes Bay re-entered the top tier of New Zealand rugby.
The chief executive of the former second division heavyweight met severe scepticism at Hawkes Bay's desire to be successful in the top flight.
‘‘I was basically asked why we were bothering. As I said then, we never lacked in talent but we just lacked the opportunity and the experience,'' Bishop told the Otago Daily Times.
‘‘We had an extremely strong second division team that had won the title most years. The region had always been generous in its financial support of Hawkes Bay rugby.
‘‘We built on those things, retained the squad we had, added players where we needed to, and community support just kept growing.''
Within two years of being readmitted, Hawkes Bay became the talk of the town - and the country.
The Magpies battled in 2006 but stunned the rugby nation last year when they beat Southland, Wellington, North Harbour and Northland in the round robin, before pipping defending champion Waikato in the Air New Zealand Cup quarterfinals.
Their success was rewarded with six players getting Super 14 contracts, with Michael Johnson, Hika Elliott and Zac Guildford becoming new Hurricanes, Bryn Evans and Danny Lee getting drafted to the Blues, and Clint Newland coming to the Highlanders.
At a time when club rugby is struggling, the unions are battling financially and the All Blacks can't win the World Cup, Hawkes Bay has provided a beacon of good news.
‘‘We're feeling pretty good about things, and you could say that's based on our success on and off the paddock last year,'' Bishop said.
‘‘But that wasn't an accident. We'd been planning for it for two or three years.
‘‘It's certainly not our intention to be a one-year wonder and I can assure you we're working hard to make sure we can repeat our success of 2007.''
Bishop said the Hawkes Bay union set a budget it knew it could meet and worked particularly hard to ensure it reached revenue targets.
It paid its players as generously as it could, and made sure the team retained strong links to the community that had followed it through the difficult years when it would regularly win the second division, only to face a promotion game against a match-hardened first division team.
‘‘Our community is extraordinary. This region has a very proud history and we've been thirsting for this opportunity since 1994.
‘‘We've had a ceiling above us that we couldn't break through. We would have welcomed automatic promotion but we were set up to fail.
‘‘The opportunity to play at this level has helped our support grow massively, we've retained local talent, and we've met financial challenges.''
Hawkes Bay has always churned out rugby talent, with Guildford and fullback Israel Dagg the latest in a line of minor stars.
Now they can stay in the region and earn professional contracts. The days of people like Stu Forster, Greg Cooper, Paul Cooke, Taine Randell and Josh Kronfeld leaving the Bay for Otago are gone.
‘‘Those guys were trying to be the best footballer they could be,'' Bishop said.
‘‘I guess we got some vicarious pride in the fact they made it to the top, even if it wasn't in a black and white jersey.
‘‘These days the young guys can choose to stay here. We've got a tremendous talent up here now in New Zealand Schools loose forward Trent Boswell-Wakefield. He's signed for three years. We couldn't have even contemplated that a few years ago.''
Bishop will attend the forum arranged by the New Zealand Rugby Union later this month to discuss the Air New Zealand Cup.
Change could be in the air, as some of the major unions have expressed their dissatisfaction with the format, and others have questioned the need for 14 professional unions.
Bishop is not quite at the nervous stage because he thinks Hawkes Bay's performances speak for themselves.
‘‘Nothing is certain, and this is a competition that's got some challenges. But I'd like to think we've shown the NZRU we're serious about being part of what lies ahead, and we're one union that has been pushing hard for an early review.
‘‘We want some certainty. At this stage, we sit here not knowing what lies ahead after 2008. We're constantly talking to sponsors and players about renewing for us, and the question we get asked is where we will be.
‘‘I think we've met and exceeded every criteria and we've got a compelling case to stay part of it.''
Bishop is furious the major unions have indicated they want to prune back the number of teams in the national championship and believes they do not have the interests of New Zealand rugby at heart.
‘‘When you have inherent advantages in anything in life, you don't like to give them up, do you?
‘‘I think it's a selfish, myopic attitude to say we need very few teams playing in a competition immediately below Super 14. Every kid in this country needs a pathway to the top somewhere near where he lives. To say you have to live in certain areas to be a decent footballer is naive thinking.''
There are no All Blacks - indeed, no Super 14 players - living in North Otago, but over the last 11 years the province has bathed in the glow of rugby success.
The Old Golds, once among the dregs of New Zealand rugby, have been turned into a mighty force through the work of coaches Greg Shipton, Peter Cook, Glenn Moore and Mike Mullins, administrators Ian Patterson and Colin Jackson, astute chairmen Phil Hope and Bill Dean, and a long line of committed players, whether they be homegrown or welcomed from Dunedin or the Pacific Islands.
As a model of how a small union can be run, there are none better. Yet North Otago has its own concerns about the future, and feels marginalised by a national union that has tried to block its ability to use loan players.
Jackson, the chief executive, does not have to worry about paying players large salaries but believes New Zealand rugby is struggling because of money.
‘‘I think it's financially unsustainable in the current climate and we've got too many overpaid rugby players of average ability,'' Jackson said.
He would like the Air New Zealand Cup to be scaled back to semi-professional status, keeping 14 teams but allowing for promotion-relegation. There was no reason North Otago, which won the Heartland Championship last year, should not be given a chance to compete in the top division in place of bottom-placed Counties-Manukau, he said.
Jackson felt the NZRU was not doing a good job looking after its smaller stakeholders.
‘‘The NZRU has to realise that provincial unions like us need support to get rugby out to the far reaches of the country.
‘‘My biggest fear is that if you don't look after places like Kurow and Ranfurly, they'll get left behind. And good players growing up in those areas will see no incentive to play rugby.
‘‘I'm convinced we miss out on a lot of rugby players. They're at high school and they don't quite make it. Then they go back to the farm and they sprout, and the skinny little flanker becomes a big nuggety hooker.
‘‘That player is the player that used to go on and play for Otago. Now they don't see a pathway to the top. Club rugby in New Zealand is haemorraghing. I think people are frustrated at the amount of money top players are being paid.
‘‘All the money goes to the top while the guys down at the bottom are still out every Saturday putting out the flags and wondering where New Zealand rugby is going.''
North Otago has had lean times at club level, with a major club like Excelsior going through a patch where it could not field a team, and others struggling for numbers.
But Jackson sees something of a renaissance at the grassroots, with healthy numbers and a competition invigorated by a link with Dunedin clubs.
There are 3% more children taking up rugby, but there is still a big drop-off after high school.
North Otago has hosted several semifinals and finals and won two national titles, but the union still runs on the smell of an oily rag, has no reserves, and lives on the goodwill of its supporters and sponsors.
‘‘We had a fantastic year last year and hope to pick up more sponsors on the back of that. But I shudder to think what will happen if we have a terrible year,'' Jackson said.
‘‘We're fighters and we're a strong union. We're trying to be positive but we're still very concerned where things might go.''
