Super 14
Taranaki and Hawke's Bay table bids
Scrum.com
July 23, 2009
CEO of the NZRU Steve Tew addresses the media at a press conference following Graham Henry's re-appointment as New Zealand All Blacks coach at NZRU offices in Wellington, New Zealand on November 7, 2007.
NZRU chief Steve Tew is unconvinced that a sixth Super Rugby side can be sustained in New Zealand © Getty Images
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Taranaki and Hawke's Bay have tabled surprise bids to be included as the 15th side in the expanded Super Rugby competition.

The unions, currently affiliated to the Hurricanes franchise, have joined Melbourne, the Gold Coast, West Sydney, New South Wales Central Coast and South Africa's Eastern Cape in bidding to provide the final side in the Australian conference.

The revamped competition from 2011 will see five teams each assigned to South African, New Zealand and Australian conferences. The five teams will play the other four sides within their conference on a home and away basis, and will also play (home or away) four of the five teams in each of the other two conferences before an expanded six-team final series.

Despite these submissions, New Zealand Rugby Union chief Steve Tew admitted that a sixth New Zealand franchise would be a hard sell to SANZAR ahead of their final decision in October.

"We have said publicly that there is a big question mark over New Zealand's capacity to sustain and achieve success with more than the five Super 14 franchises, so that will have a bearing on our considerations," Tew said.

Hawke's Bay chief executive Mike Bishop countered those concerns by pointing out the number of players the region had lost to rival provinces until it regained first division status in 2006.

"We've fed the other provinces for 30 years and now we're generating a lot of players out of this province with the talent to play Super Rugby," he said. " We'd like to give them the opportunity to play in Hawke's Bay."

Taranaki joined the race hours after Hawke's Bay went public, with chief executive Mark Robinson believing his union was a "credible" contender.

"We believe it's important SANZAR have a solid New Zealand alternative on the table for consideration," he said. "We can provide a professional, well-supported franchise in New Zealand's rugby heartland, and we believe this is a bid that is very hard to counter."

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