The three major powers of southern hemisphere rugby are to hire a chief executive to oversee the expansion of the annual Super rugby and Tri-Nations competitions.
South African, Australia, New Zealand Rugby had previously rotated the responsibility of running the Super 14 and Tri-Nations competitions between each of the three unions.
The New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew says 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 will begin playing in Melbourne next year, with the competition realigning 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 southern hemisphere championship, conditional on a number of commercial factors and issues such as player retention and contracting.
