Last updated 12:32, June 25 2018
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NZ Rugby chief executoive Steve Tew: 'We've got bigger, fitter and faster athletes involved with more collisions than ever before.'
NZ Rugby chief executoive Steve Tew: 'We've got bigger, fitter and faster athletes involved with more collisions than ever before.'
New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew has come out in qualified support of his All Blacks coach's plea for change around how test rugby is officiated.
Steve Hansen on Sunday challenged World Rugby to rethinks its approach to the way the game is adjudicated in the wake of a contentious June window that saw a number of controversial decisions made in both the New Zealand-France and Australia-Ireland series.
"It has got to a point where we have got to do something, because it is starting to affect the game," Hansen said after his All Blacks closed out a 3-0 sweep of France with a 49-14 victory in Dunedin.
The All Blacks coach said the game had become faster, and more fluid, but World Rugby had not moved with the times.
"We haven't really changed the way we ref," he added. "We are saying there is one guy controlling the game all the time, and he is not. The TMO [in Dunedin] had a lot to say in it."
NZ Rugby chief executive Tew said in his post-board meeting conference call with media on Monday it was no surprise to hear complaints being aired after an intense period of internationals in June.
"If there's a pleasing thing for me it's that everything has erred on the side of player safety," he said.
"I agree with Steve that the situation is very fluid. We've got bigger, fitter and faster athletes involved with more collisions than ever before and we're going to have to constantly be going back and looking at things.
"I understand the frustrations of some coaches. Steve is not the only one who has had a few words to say. World Rugby, at the rugby committee level, will continue to look at stuff and make changes we think are in the best interests of the game."
Tew confirmed the final June test against France in Dunedin had been the only one in the series not to sell out, but did not have any concerns about falling "a few hundred short" for a match that still exceeded budgeted income.
He also took heart from what he saw in Australia. "They had a great series and a sellout [in Sydney]. While their Super teams haven't been performing as we would have wanted, the Wallabies are certainly back and interest in them was incredibly high, as it was with the All Blacks. Viewership numbers from Sky are very encouraging for this last series.
"Those predicting the demise of test rugby might just want to take a deep breath. Indications from June are very positive and the same can be said for the series in South Africa."
Tew also reaffirmed that South Africa remained committed to the Sanzaar relationship despite media speculation they could be set to realign with the north.
He said a Sanzaar meeting next week in Singapore would "progress our thinking about what Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship might look like in the future".
"The South Africans have made it clear their priority is Sanzaar still. They used the Pro12 (now Pro14) opportunity to find a home for the two teams they took out of Super Rugby ... but they have made it very clear to us that they want their best teams playing in Super Rugby still."
Meanwhile, New Zealand Rugby remain all in on the women's game, bidding not just for the 2021 World Cup, but also for an international sevens tournament to sit alongside their existing men's event in Hamilton.
Tew confirmed their "preference" was to stage a women's event in conjunction with the men's series stopover in Hamilton.
With next year's Hamilton men's world series tournament the last of the allocated cycle, Tew had authority to sign off on hosting the next wave of tournaments through until 2023, with decisions expected soon by World Rugby.
Asked if the sevens would include a women's tournament, he said: "That would be our preference."
He said they were keeping options open about tournament format, but there was a marked desire to see the New Zealand women's sevens side in action at home next year.
"We're not at a point of making any final announcements, but we'd like to think there will be some visibility of the Black Ferns sevens next year," he said.