The governing bodies of rugby and touch in New Zealand have agreed to work together to grow both games.
The New Zealand Rugby Union and Touch New Zealand have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which sets out how the two organisations will cooperate on a range of projects in the future.
One of the plans involves dedicated positions that will develop both rugby and touch programmes in secondary schools.
Around 150,000 men, women and children play rugby every weekend in winter while Touch New Zealand has a registered membership of 85,000 players of the summer game.