Wellington, Dec 8 NZPA - A proposal for two divisions of seven teams each from 2011 has been put to the New Zealand Rugby Union by the Players' Association.

Provincial union chief executives on Friday will get a chance to see the proposal on Friday, the New Zealand Herald reported today.

It was recently tabled to the NZRU as part of the collective bargaining process with the franchises and provinces.

According to the Herald, the proposal would see a full 14-team round-robin remain in 2010, before the competition split into first and second divisions of seven teams from 2011.

The final positions in next year's Air New Zealand Cup would determine the divisional split, not the criteria the NZRU was using to cull four teams under the 10-6 proposal.

The seven-seven split would mean there would be no need to promote two Heartland unions, a move which raised serious concerns at a recent players' conference.

A provincial union source said the proposal would be tabled to chief executives in Wellington on Friday and they would have the opportunity to endorse it or raise concerns.

NZRU chief executive Steve Tew was returning from Europe with the All Blacks and unavailable for comment. The head of the Players' Association, Rob Nichol, refused to discuss the proposal because of the protocols of collective bargaining.

The proposal means the strongest teams would still be guaranteed to play each other every year, while the second division teams retained contact with the first division, ensuring the lower tier did not become a "wilderness" competition.

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