“Having a super team and then a… provincial team is one layer too many for us.” Steve Hansen.
Steve Hansen wants New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises gone. The former All Blacks coach would put the NPC first, then send the best provinces into a trans-Tasman Anzac Cup.
Hansen, who coached the All Blacks to the 2015 World Cup, said it on Rugby Unity with David Pembroke and Ewen McKenzie. New Zealand Rugby decides its domestic structure on 9 December.
Would you trade the Crusaders for Canterbury and a shot at an Anzac Cup? Yes or no in the comments.
Steve Hansen’s Super Rugby replacement: NPC rugby first, then an Anzac Cup
A listener asked what should sit below Test level in New Zealand and Australia to steady both unions’ finances.
“So, I’d like us to go back to MPC [NPC] uh play a competition and then while we’re playing that Australia playing a competition of Australia… then play against the top four or five New Zealand teams and cuz we’re in close enough proximity to be able to do that.”
Promotion and relegation would decide which provinces play in it.
“Um, so and you have promotion relegation. So you’re either in that, you know, division one, you’ve still you’ve always got an opportunity to to keep uh growing the tribalism and the and the fan base.”
He did not insist on the name. “The ANZAC cup for one of a better term,” he said.
Northland rugby is Hansen’s case for it
“Look at Northland at the moment they’re in the final of the MPC [NPC] what an opportunity it would be for them to be playing in the ANZAC cup what excitement would that generate.”
Northland beat Otago 38-19 in Whangārei on 16 October to reach their first NPC final. They play Canterbury at Te Kaha in Christchurch on Monday 26 October.
Under the current model a strong NPC season leads nowhere beyond the NPC. A Northland player’s next step is a contract with the Blues, a franchise drawing on several unions.
In his model the provinces keep their own players. “You’re not drawing from players from all over to come and play for the Crusaders,” he said.
Why Hansen thinks it costs less
“I think you provide more opportunities for people. I think you provide uh less touch points where it’s costing you money so you can actually refine what you’re doing. Your pathways become a bit clearer.”
New Zealand runs three layers below the All Blacks: the five Super Rugby Pacific clubs, the 14 NPC unions and club rugby. Australia goes from Super Rugby to club. Hansen’s model drops one of New Zealand’s.
Club rugby gains too, in his view.
“Is then you’re going to drop people down into club rugby again and your community game is going to benefit.”
The numbers New Zealand Rugby is facing
New Zealand Rugby has lost $68 million over 2022 to 2026, and projects a further $66 million of losses over 2027 to 2031.
It needs to close a structural deficit of about $20 million a year. Three models went to a summit in Wellington in September.
One adds up to two Super Rugby clubs and reformats the NPC. Another merges the Super Rugby clubs with the provincial unions in the five main centres. The third replaces both competitions with one of eight to ten teams, licensed to the provincial unions.
The provincial unions do not get a vote.
None of the three includes a trans-Tasman tier with promotion and relegation, which sits at the centre of Hansen’s plan.
Steve Hansen borrows from the Champions Cup
Hansen said he was not too proud to take ideas from the north.
“Like it’s working for them. The European Cup or whatever it’s called now has been a wonderful tournament in in multiple codes.”
The Champions Cup works because clubs qualify through their league. Hansen wants the NPC to be that league for New Zealand, and the Anzac Cup the prize.
“We need to change what we’re doing cuz it’s not working.”
Ewen McKenzie wants South Africa back instead
McKenzie, who coached the Wallabies in 2013 and 2014 and won Super Rugby with the Reds in 2011, sees it differently.
“I’m disappointed that New Zealand and Australia don’t get to play against South Africa again in that super competition. Yeah, I know it was complicated, but I think the exposure we got helped all three countries.”
Hansen agreed on the loss and doubted the return.
“I agree with Link. It was really a big blow to lose South Africa. Um and I don’t think we’ll get them back now… They’re enjoying what they are doing.”
McKenzie then offered a middle way for New Zealand.
“If you took away the five manufactured brands, the Crusaders and whatever, and you just played Canterbury and whatever, and then the top six or whatever on any year qualify for the whatever [Anzac Cup]. So that takes out the financial drain.”
Overseas All Blacks? Hansen still says no
The same listener asked why the All Blacks coach could not pick three players based overseas. Hansen backed the rule.
“The argument’s always been that if we let people go, then we’re not going to get them back and everyone’s going to go and it’s going to be to the detriment of our own competition.”
He sees the senior players as teachers. “They’ve actually got a educational role for the young learning athletes as well,” he said.
NZ Rugby decides on 9 December
Hansen’s plan would strip out the franchise layer and keep the Australian fixtures. It would give a union like Northland something to aim for beyond its own competition.
The cost is the Crusaders, the Blues and the other franchise brands, built since Super 12 began in 1996.
Northland can win the NPC on Monday and still have no higher competition to play in. Hansen’s plan would give them one.
Rugby Unity has the full conversation. Under the current system the franchises recruit across unions, and the Blues want Ardie Savea.
Your turn: franchises or provinces?
Hansen wants the NPC first and an Anzac Cup with promotion and relegation. McKenzie would keep Super Rugby and bring South Africa back.
Keep the franchises, or go back to the provinces? Pick one below.
Frequently asked
What did Steve Hansen say about Super Rugby?
On Rugby Unity in October 2026, Hansen said having Super Rugby and provincial teams is “one layer too many” for New Zealand. He wants the NPC as the main competition, feeding a trans-Tasman Anzac Cup.
What is the Anzac Cup in Hansen’s plan?
A competition between Australia’s teams and the top four or five New Zealand provinces, with promotion and relegation. Hansen used the name “for one of a better term”.
When will New Zealand Rugby decide its domestic structure?
NZ Rugby’s board is due to choose between three models on 9 December 2026, after losses of $68 million over 2022 to 2026.
Comments
No one has weighed in yet.
Be the first - what did you make of it?