Otago and the Highlanders will be “consolidated” as part of New Zealand Rugby’s cost-cutting measures.

NZR announced on Thursday it wanted both Super Rugby and the NPC to stay intact following revelations the national union was forecast to lose $20 million a year.

However, as previously tabled for discussion, it would force unions and clubs in the five major cities to consolidate their operations.

It means Otago, a union overseeing the community game as well as the NPC team, and the Highlanders, a mostly privately owned club, will be forced back into a relationship.

The Otago union operated the Highlanders franchise for the first 14 years of the Super Rugby team’s existence.

Details will need to be thrashed out but it is likely jobs will be at stake as NZR looks for savings.

NZR said the move to consolidation would “drive better community rugby, high performance and financial outcomes”.

The nine regional unions — including Southland, who will be wary of Otago benefiting from the closer relationship with the Highlanders — will have “stronger relationships with their Super Rugby clubs, supported by strengthened pathway protections to ensure talented players can develop in their home regions and stay connected with their communities”.

NZR said it and Rugby Australia would work with Super Rugby clubs and the respective players associations to “transform how Super Rugby Pacific engages fans, attracts investors and generates revenue”.

“We’re open to working on things like player movement, a competition-wide salary cap and centralising commercial assets across the key markets,” NZR chief executive Steve Lancaster said.

The NPC will remain a 14-team provincial competition to connect rugby to the regions and provide pathways for players across the country.
Implementation of the changes is expected from 2028.