The majority of the senior clubs voted for the competition to revert back to a full double round and to retain the playoff structure at a Metropolitan Rugby Council meeting on Monday.
Last season the competition was cut from 18 round-robin games to 16 in order to fit the season into the available playing window.The clubs wanted to ensure the Otago contracted players would be available for the semifinal and final. That meant trimming two weeks from the schedule but a compromise has been reached for next year.
Otago coach Cory Brown will make his players available for a week longer and the second round will be played mid-week on Wednesday, March 29. Kick off is at 6pm.The competition gets under way on March 25 and will conclude with the final on July 29.The round, scheduled for Easter weekend, will be played on Thursday, April 13.
Metropolitan Rugby Council chairman Gary Wheeler said the majority of the clubs felt more comfortable with a full double round.
"They felt missing the two games meant some teams missed out on the easy games and other teams got to play the top sides," Wheeler said.
"It is just a fairer competition with everybody playing everybody. There are no excuses then."
A sticking point was making sure the Otago contracted players would feature at the business end of the competition but that was resolved when Brown agreed to wait a week longer for exclusive use of the province’s top players.
It will be a tough opening week for the seniors, with three games in eight days.
But Wheeler said the March 29 game may be a good opportunity for the clubs to trial some of the premier 2 and colts players and rest the seniors for the mid-week fixture.
The draw will be available next week.