Grant Fox gives verdict on proposed North vs South clash as All Blacks prepare for 18-month season
All Blacks selector Grant Fox is preparing for the possibility of an 18-month season when domestic and international rugby returns to action following the global coronavirus lockdown.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the former All Blacks first-five confirmed that the coaches and selectors of the national side are beginning to view this elongated break to the 2020 campaign as a new “off-season”.
Super Rugby remains suspended after being brought to a halt three weeks ago following seven rounds of the regular season.
No date has been set for the competition’s return, while international tours from northern hemisphere sides travelling south of the equator in July have been put on hold.
Wales and Scotland were set to face the All Blacks across three test matches in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin in two months’ time, but those fixtures look increasingly unlikely to take place.
The Rugby Championship, which is due to kick-off in August, is the next competition in the firing line, adding to the uncertainty of rugby both domestically and internationally in New Zealand.
Fox said that a raft of alternative options are being considered by New Zealand Rugby as the economic implications of no scheduled rugby fixtures has the organisation staring down the barrel of a multi-million dollar loss in revenue.
“You could argue right now we’re in our off-season, because we’re not playing. We might consider this our summer, as we head into winter, and rugby gets played over next (Southern Hemisphere) summer,” the 1987 World Cup winner told Sky Sports.
“We could be impacted for the next 18 months, in terms of what a schedule would look like. We hope by 2021 there’s some form of normality, but it could mean that we’re playing rugby for a prolonged period of time.”
Discussions have been rife about what rugby will look like in New Zealand when it returns to the fold once travel and public gathering restrictions are relaxed.
A Kiwi-only Super Rugby competition – made up of the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders – has been among the discussed options, as has a provincial competition featuring all the country’s All Blacks.
“It would take just the five Super Rugby franchises, playing each other on a home and away basis, which means every week one team’s got a bye,” Fox said.
“Now the July international window is looking less and less likely, so there’s an argument you could just push into that and keep going.
“Hopefully that won’t affect our Mitre 10 Cup, which maybe becomes really beefed up with a whole lot of All Blacks playing.”
Other opportunities have been touted, with Chiefs and British and Irish Lions boss Warren Gatland recently suggesting the All Blacks face the Lions in a 2017 series-deciding clash ahead of their 2021 tour of South Africa.
French Rugby Federation president Bernard Laporte has even put forward the notion of a Club World Cup, made up of the top teams from Super Rugby, the English Premiership, the Top 14, the PRO14, the Top League and Major League Rugby.
One idea that has been popular both among fans and media is the revival of the once-annual North vs South clash between the nation’s North and South Islands.
The inter-island derby was first held in Wellington in 1897, and was played 78 times on an almost annual basis until 1986, with players selected based on what province they represented in the National Provincial Championship.
Since then, though, the fixture has only been played twice, with the 80th and most recent edition coming in 2012 when the match was held in Dunedin in a fundraising effort for the financially-embattled Otago Rugby Football Union.
With minimal rugby prospects on the horizon, an avenue for the reimplementation of the North vs South derby has opened up, with Fox highlighting the potential interest such a contest would bring.
“If the All Blacks don’t have the chance to play this year because there can be no international travel, then we’ve got to do something for the fans, the players, the sponsors, all the people that are intertwined in this,” the 57-year-old said.
“That’s just one of the ‘what if’ scenarios, and it might not be divided by the island where you play now, it might be where you went to school, or where you were born. Find a way to get the talent mixed up, and I think that game would create quite a bit of interest.
“A body as big as New Zealand Rugby is going to take a major haircut in income, and playing games is a big part of how they earn their money, like every rugby union around the world, so the sooner we can get back to some form of normality, the better.
“And if it means doing something completely different for 18 months, well, maybe that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to comments