"People are generally pleased, we want to look at the game going forward," he said.

"Obviously we've got a challenging environment around player retention in this country at the moment, revenue is under pressure at provincial level and there are concerns about our competition structure.

"But having said that, we've also acknowledged that there are some really good things about the game in this country which we want to preserve and build on.

"It is a fact that it (rugby) is still the game of choice for most of New Zealand, we have a very large playing base, there's incredible interest in our sport, we have $70 million in the bank and we have a lot of history and heritage we want to build on."

The forum includes some leading rugby thinkers such as former All Blacks coach John Hart and former All Black Grant Fox.

Tew said the forum was not designed to present immediate answers to the issues facing the game but to work on principles that would overcome the problems.

"We certainly acknowledge that revenue and costs are two issues that a lot of unions have on the table right now.

"What we hope to do is get people to agree to some fundamental principles regarding what we want the game to look like and then go away and do their work."

The structure of competitions such as the Air New Zealand Cup, which has another season to run under the revamped 14-team championship, is also under the microscope.