Provincial rugby unions in good health o

PROVINCIAL rugby unions are in good health, says New Zealand Rugby.

Super Rugby may still be wrapping up, but the provincial unions are ramping up their preseasons ahead of the NPC, which starts on August 18.

While most of the focus will be their performance on the field, there are signs of positivity off the field already.

NZ Rugby head of provincial rugby, Steve Lancaster, said all 14 Mitre 10 Cup unions registered profits for the last year, a major boost considering it was just a year on from them combining for a $1.3 million loss.

‘‘Provincial rugby is in pretty good heart,’’ Lancaster said. ‘‘We annually track all of the provincial unions’ financial situation. In 2016, all of the Mitre 10 Cup teams returned a profit, which is a really positive thing.’’

A major factor for the results was the significant increase in contribution from New Zealand Rugby.

‘‘There was an uplift in provincial rugby funding in 2015 and that was the first year that we saw that flow through. What we saw was there was an uplift in community rugby spend, so it was applied to the base of the game. A number of unions also used that to build up their base and to establish their reserves.’’

The national body’s funding to each union was dependant on a variety of factors including if they were in the top tier or the Heartland division, the number of registered players and the number of specific roles like rugby development officers, referee education officers and club development officers.

It is the 12th year of having 14 teams in the top flight of the provincial game and the fifth year under the current format of premiership and championship divisions.

While the competition has