New Zealand’s rugby provinces have been warned by the professional players to brace for a civil war if they vote to approve their own governance change proposal at next week’s special general meeting. 

In an explosive move that shows how distressed the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association (NZRPA) is with the current governance system and the possibility of it not being fixed in line with independent recommendations, the trade body has told the unions it is ready to break away to form a new and separate entity to manage the professional game. 

In a fiercely worded letter sent to all unions as well as New Zealand Rugby (NZR), Super Rugby Pacific clubs and the Māori Rugby Board, the NZRPA says that if the provinces vote in favour of what is known as Proposal 2 —a new governance structure that the provinces have developed themselves and one that differs significantly to an alternative blueprint that aligns with the findings of an independent review— it will withdraw, via its collective employment agreement, the right for NZR to govern the game. 

NZRPA CEO Rob Nichol told Mike Hosking that Proposal 2 is a different proposal to what was put up by a group of provincial unions, and unfortunately it doesn’t stack up. 

He said that it falls well short of the recommendations and independent analysis undertaken by the expert panel and effectively discredits them. 

Should Proposal 2 be implemented, Nichol said, they’ll end up back at status quo, or worse. 

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