The Priorities are set each year by the NZRU Board, to identify the key outcomes and initiatives for the year.

The Priorities translate the long-term strategic goals of the Vision into short-term operational outcomes: broadly speaking, while the NZRU Board is responsible for monitoring our progress towards the Vision, the NZRU senior management team is responsible for delivering and reporting on the Priorities.

The Priorities are generally focused on unique, large-scale or strategically important initiatives or outcomes. Although they are vital to the health and success of New Zealand rugby, a range of ongoing objectives, such as managing national teams and hosting Test matches, are not usually listed as Priorities.

In 2009, the NZRU’s five Priorities are to:

1. Implement the Community Rugby Plan

2. Re-design and reinvigorate our international competitions for players, fans, and commercial partners

3. Ensure the All Blacks are a winning team

4. Drive revenue generation, cost management and sustainability throughout the game

5. Finalise and implement the 2011 RWC legacy programme to cement the benefits of hosting Rugby World Cup 2011

The Scoreboard plays a crucial role in helping the NZRU to monitor and report on its work during the year. Put simply, the Scoreboard is the NZRU’s to-do list for the year – it breaks down the Priorities and other ongoing objectives into smaller activities and outcomes to be “ticked off” as they are completed or achieved.

Before each year begins, NZRU management prepare a list of specific Targets for approval by the Board. The Targets are then grouped into four key areas of activity, or Quadrants: Game Development, Representative Teams, Competitions and Governance and Financial. These four Quadrants are also used for financial reporting by the NZRU and all of New Zealand’s Provincial Unions.

Each Target is given a value, to reflect its importance. In 2008, the NZRU set itself 24 separate Targets. The relative values of the four Quadrants were Community Rugby (25%), High Performance (25%), Competitions (30%) and Governance and Financial (20%).

The value for each Target varies year on year, to reflect the importance of certain teams, competitions and programmes. The emphasis on driving fan interest informed a Competitions Target that was higher than in 2007, while the importance of implementing the Community Rugby Plan 2008-2011 informed the high value given to Community Rugby in 2008.

At the end of each year, the NZRU is able to tally up the Targets it has successfully achieved. By adding up the values of the completed Targets, the NZRU can give itself a performance score out of 100. This Scoreboard score is an explicit, transparent report on the NZRU’s progress towards achieving the Priorities for the year and ultimately, delivery on the Vision.

From 2009 the Vision for rugby in New Zealand will provide the framework on which the NZRU bases its future planning, reporting and communication. In 2009, the NZRU will measure its successes against the pillars of Strong Community Rugby (20%), Winning All Blacks (25%), Outstanding Competitions (25%), Effective Structures (20%), Positive Global Presence (5%) and Inspiration Rugby World Cup 2011 (5%).

Recent NZRU performance scores are listed below.