By Daniel Gilhooly of NZPA

Wellington, Oct 28 NZPA - The New Zealand Rugby Union's (NZRU) belt will be tightened further in 2010, with losses forecast for the next three financial terms.

Chief executive Steve Tew said more "pain" would infiltrate elements of the national game but he wouldn't specify details until affected parties were told.

The NZRU board today opted for a "conservative" approach to its 2010 budgeting, which Tew said "involves some further reduction in activity and organisation".

"There is pain involved and we want to have that conversation with people directly."

The budget for national teams was reduced considerably this year, with no games organised for the New Zealand Maori side while there was an impact on the Black Ferns national women's team, age grade and development programmes, the Heartland 15 team and the p rovincial B competition.

Other areas suffered to save money, notably the removal of television match officials from the Air NZ Cup.

"We have budgeted a deficit for 2010 but to get to a deficit we're comfortable with, we're looking at some further activity cuts," Tew explained.

"We're likely to have a deficit for 2011 as well, with a considerable improvement in 2012, 13 and 14 considering our contracted revenues change considerably."

Meanwhile, the board won't budge on its decision to reduce the national provincial championship from 14 to 10 teams next year, despite tabling petitions from two of the provinces most in danger of demotion.

Officials from Manawatu and Tasman both presented petitions over the weekend which are believed to harbour more than 10,000 signatures supporting their retention.

"They were tabled in the spirit they were given and acknowledged, as such," Tew said.

"The board certainly acknowledges the emotion, passion and commitment that such petitions reflect from the people in those provinces."

However, he noted the numbers weren't matched by crowd sizes at the provinces' home grounds and said the financial motives for reducing the size of the competition remained valid.

The latest estimation is a saving of $3 million to run a reduced top-tier competition and six-team second-tier championship.

That estimate depends on the pending collective bargaining process with the Rugby Players Association related to next year's payment model and salary cap.