Taranaki has no plans to try to take the Highlanders out of the South as talks continue behind closed doors over the franchise and the role of the new Forsyth Barr Stadium.
With the New Zealand Rugby Union looking for commercial partners for its four other franchises - the Highlanders are not formally involved in this process at this stage - the future of franchises has come under the spotlight.
Two years ago, Taranaki indicated it wanted to host a franchise when the Super 14 expanded, but it lost out to the Melbourne Rebels. The New Zealand Rugby Union did not back its bid.
The amber and blacks, though, still had ambitions to be a Super rugby base and that had led to the suggestion the provincial union was eying up franchises such as the Chiefs or the Highlanders to take to New Plymouth.
Taranaki Rugby Football Union chairman Lindsay Thomson yesterday poured cold water on the suggestion the union's board was eying up the Highlanders.
"We have no intention of bringing the Highlanders to New Plymouth. We don't think the NZRU would support taking a team out of an existing area," he said.
"When we showed an interest in 2009 that was when the competition was expanding and we were looking as an expansion team. And if you look at South Africa with the Southern Kings that is what could be happening. And that is where we want to be involved."
Plans by Taranaki may have taken a hit with the sudden resignation of chief executive Mark Robinson this week.
The Southern Kings franchise based in Port Elizabeth had been promised entry into the Super 15 in 2013 but nothing had been decided.
If no South African team drops out, then the Kings may be squeezed in as a sixth team from the republic, leading to additional teams from Australia and New Zealand.
Financially, a sixth team from New Zealand or Australia appears a long shot. With the New Zealand Rugby Union looking for financial backers for the Chiefs, Blues, Hurricanes and Crusaders, it would be hard to justify the union wanting a sixth team in the competition.
The Highlanders are separate from the national body's privatisation process as it seeks its own path to secure third party funding.
It has been tight-lipped on its privatisation plans over the past month and Highlanders chairman Ross Laidlaw said yesterday he had no comment to make on the issue.
Highlanders general manager Roger Clark could not be contacted but previously had little to say on the matter.
But with the Highlanders due to play at the new Forsyth Barr Stadium next season - they trained there this week - the stadium may come into calculations in having some financial input in the franchise.
The Highlanders have already moved their offices to the stadium.
The Highlanders are one of the stadium's anchor tenants and it is therefore in the interests of Dunedin Venues Management Ltd to secure the future of one of its core tenants.
DVML chief executive David Davies could not be contacted yesterday.
DVML had also been trying to secure the marketing rights for the Highlanders and made a pitch to New Zealand Rugby Union officials earlier this month.
Although no-one would confirm it, the marketing rights are believed to have stayed with the Highlanders.
• Staff at the Otago Rugby Football Union moved into offices at the stadium yesterday.
The union, with a reduced workforce, moved into offices on the second floor of the South Stand, leaving both Carisbrook and a prefab room at Logan Park.
