circumstances it will be difficult to gain places.Though admitting its been a step backwards, Alonso does not believe it is a sign McLaren and Hondas latest upgrades have gone in the wrong directi

New Zealand will continue to oppose the wishes of Australia and South Africa and lobby to revamp the Super Rugby playoffs.However, New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew agrees the under-fire competition must expand further to remain commercially viable.The release of the draw this week attracted widespread criticism that the 18-team Super Rugby structure has become bloated and unwieldy.A complex conference-based format has been retained, along with a finals system in which home advantage can be awarded to teams who earn less overall points than their opponents.That was the case for two New Zealand teams this year, prompting a push for change from Kiwi bosses, including Tew, at a meeting in Sydney last week.Their desire is for the playoffs to be based purely on the overall standings, with home advantage commensurate with final placings.It is disappointing that we couldnt get agreement from South Africa and Australia, he said.We havent completely given up. Well keep plugging away because we think it makes a lot more sense for there to be a straight top eight, it makes it a lot easier for the fans who can disregard the conferences.Tew says his Australian and South African counterparts believed it was an aberration that four Kiwi teams qualified for the playoffs this year and that such a scenario is unlikely to repeat.Youve got to have agreement at SANZAAR. Thats the beauty of a joint venture, Tew said.There was, however, a consensus that the competition needs to further expand its boundaries.Having added teams from Argentina and Japan this year, there is a strong suggestion North America will be in SANZAARs sights when the current contract expires in 2020.Tew says offshore offers to top New Zealand players is out-stripping previous sums.South Africa is suffering particularly from a player drain while Australia and New Zealand are also coming under relentless pressure to fend off the lure of big-money European offers.We know if we sit still, well get taken over by whats going on in Europe and in particular in France, Tew said.Weve got to keep growing our commercial base and inevitably thats going to have to be outside the existing markets.Its not for expansions sake. Its because it continues to grow value for the now four members (including Argentina) of SANZAAR.Cheap Air Max Shoes Sale . 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Air Max Cheap China .com) - The women will also have a new champion at the Australian Open.Fernando Alonso admits Suzuka has represented a step backwards for McLaren after he and Jenson Button were forced to settle for 15th and 17th on the grid.Honda came to its home race hoping for a competitive weekend but dropped off the pace on Saturday. Alonso switched to Hondas upgrade in Malaysia so he could run it this weekend without a penalty but still faces a start towards the back end of the grid.Alonso admits McLaren needs to hope for showers for Sundays grand prix.Definitely not the right performance in qualifying, Alonso said. All weekend long we have been struggling a little bit, trying to find the balance and speed of the car as well. Definitely difficult positions to start the race tomorrow, 15th and 17th are not the best places for the two McLarens, especially after some races we were used to being in Q3 and fighting for the points.So it seems to be a step backwards here, especially yesterday and Saturday, so we need to find some speed for tomorrow ... some weather change, some rain will help us recover some places. But we need to analyse why we underperformed.Alonso thinks McLaren is still struggling to find the ideal set-up on bboth cars.ddddddddddddSo far it has been disappointing, no doubt. Its not great for our home grand prix but we didnt find the speed all weekend long, were struggling with the high-speed performance and straight-line performance.Difficult to balance this in terms of downforce choices, etc, so not the ideal place to start the race but hopefully we can recover some places, maybe some rain around tomorrow because in a normal race, normal circumstances it will be difficult to gain places.Though admitting its been a step backwards, Alonso does not believe it is a sign McLaren and Hondas latest upgrades have gone in the wrong direction.I think everything is working. Five days ago we were performing really well in Malaysia. Its just circuit to circuit seems to change the performance of the car, or our competitors - here it seems Force India and Haas are running very quick, in Singapore Toro Rosso was running very quick. So depending circuit to circuit and this one is probably not in our sight, so we need to understand why. ' ' '