News that Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka and the Auckland Rugby Union are partnering together is just the beginning of a range of rugby-inspired innovations from Unitec according to Tertiary Update’s sports correspondent Paki Taunuhia.

Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka announced its partnership with ARU early this week; a partnership which will include sponsorship of the rugby union’s ITM cup team this year and the Blues Super 15 team next autumn.

Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka tumuaki, Dr Rick Ede, says the partnership adds a strong educational link to a close relationship that already exists between the two organisations.

Dr Ede said there are also other exciting developments that are still being finalised which will further enhance the new partnership.

Mr Taunuhia indicated that some of those developments could include the Blues  facilitating a result in its rugby games rather than trying to beat its opposition outright.

One of the things Unitec will share with the Blues from its learnings over the past year is that sometimes it’s better to look for the win-win rather than trying to win by making your opposition lose.

“Let’s be honest, the Blues haven’t had as many wins as they would like in recent years so perhaps a new approach where they try to find a way that both they and the crusaders can win together could be a positive step forward,” said Mr Taunuhia.

Mr Taunuhia understands that Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka has been offering helpful human relations advice to the rugby union too.  For instance the union is now au fait with the motivating impact of offering highly specialised, trained professionals a 0 one off payment in lieu of a pay rise.

Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka also sees some productivity gains for Auckland Rugby by having more control over when rugby players are taking breaks or not playing games.

“Those players might say that they are working all year round but, let’s face it, the only time you ever see them doing any real work is for about 80 minutes once a week during winter,” said Mr Taunuhia.

Thanks to tkw954 @ Flickr for the photo