"Northampton is a club that has made great strides with the results that the team have had this year," Vickerman said. "I've watched them play and they play a great brand of rugby. I will also be wanting to grow as a player. Rugby is a game in which you're continually learning and it will be fun playing under Jim and his coaching staff. And if I can contribute to the club getting better then that would be great too."

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans will make an eleventh-hour effort to persuade the winger to stay in Australia after he was allegedly offered AU$1.1m from abroad. The ARU's base offer to the 23-year-old is $175,000 a season but that figure could rise to $410,000 if Test and Super 14 match fees, along with car and living-away-from-home expences are factored in. "I could stay for $300,000 (base rate)," Ioane told rugby365. "I love Queensland and I would love to play in the (2011) World Cup. It's just sad. I really want to stay. But what I got offered I felt was just an insult. Money is a big thing to me. I need to support my family, my mum and my dad. For me family comes first."

An ARU spokesman said on Sunday that the differential between what Ioane could earn overseas and the extended ARU offer really was as wide as the $700,000 mark. "There is only so much money in the coffers," he said. "It's not a bottomless pit. But it should be pointed out that in 2008, there were only 20 players in Australian rugby who were offered over $400,000."

Elsom is rumoured to have agreed terms but Brumbies Chief Executive, Andrew Fagan, said a deal was yet to be finalised. "He's obviously moving a little closer to making a decision ... he knows what our position is," Fagan told AAP. "He's over here next week, obviously coming to play in that (Barbarians) game and I would suggest it may not be until then, that he wouldn't make a decision until he's actually in the country. There's no scheduled meeting at this stage."

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew announced the series of principles that all but guarantees the number of competing teams will be cut as the competition is crammed into a 10 to 12-week space, ending in October. Also flagged for future competitions is the implementation of a promotion-relegation match but whether this will be automatic or by way of a playoff match has yet to be determined. Each team will be guaranteed four or five home games. Tew said the principles provided strong guidance for competition structures and options would now be further developed.

"These principles mean the premier division of our domestic provincial competitions will feature fewer teams and this was agreed by those present, providing meaningful competition is available for all 14 provincial unions which are currently in the Air NZ Cup," he said.