South African, Australia, New Zealand Rugby (Sanzar) has until now rotated the responsibility of running the Super 14 and Tri-Nations competitions between each of the three unions.

"The Sanzar joint venture has been incredibly successful through the co-operation of the three unions which have rotated the secretariat responsibilities up until this year," New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said in a statement. "With the expansion of the competitions from 2011, it is timely to move to an independent, permanent executive that can focus exclusively on driving Super rugby and the Tri-Nations competitions."

A 15th Super Rugby team are to begin playing in Melbourne next year, with the competition being altered to a conference-based tournament with five teams based in each country. The Tri-Nations is also expected to expand in 2012 after Sanzar invited Argentina to join the championship.

Neither were considered for selection against the Bulls at Pretoria on Saturday as punishment for breaking a team curfew last weekend following the 0-33 loss to the Stormers. The one-match suspensions imposed on Thomson and first Hobbs follows their failure to return to their team hotel on time in Cape Town last weekend.

"Each week you have to earn the right to play for this team," said Highlanders head coach Glenn Moore. "This slip up, albeit out of character for these two guys, means they don't get the opportunity to play this week."

Moore said Hobbs and Thomson would stay with the team in Pretoria to help them prepare for the match against the Bulls. Mat Berquist has been named to start at No 10 against the Bulls, while Steven Setephano takes over at No 8 in Thomson's absence.