New Zealand isn’t in a position to bid goodbye to players easily

well maybe players should have a clause in there contrat to make a final decision after the super rugby them

Learn from France. Their young talent stay home

I think we have reached the point where players are going earlier in their career and not waiting to see if an AB jersey happens. Therefore NZR has a simple decision to make. Do they still want to have these players available for the ABs. Yes or no. The world has changed since 1995 and it's probably time NZR changed with it.

. I don’t want him to go to Japan, or to be losing Papali’i and Sotutu. Nor others such as Fehi Fineanganofo, Sevu Reece and Dallas McLeod. 

All it would take is a bit of an investment, a few 100 million up front to bring all the best talent back. I’m sure then, there would be enough broadcaster and sponsorship dollars to function sustainably at the level there after (essential recuperate investors or pay back loans).

First I would start the domestic season in Australasia around March with a Pacific Champions Cup filled with the best clubs (think Blues and Ponies) and representative sides (think NPC), this would be for the purpose to host something with JRLO clubs, where they halt their league for a month and finish at the same time as everyone else in June, instead of May. You could have different teirs so all their club sides can participate, as they need something (can’t be just their best halfdozen teams). You could even invite All Star sides for North and South American leagues.

There is a trophy but the best Australasian sides progress into Super Rugby, where they go up against the best regional and State sides the NZ and Aus unions have to offer. Thats what Super Rugby is about, making sure the best players are all getting a fair and even opportunity to become All Blacks after all, as I’ve referenced a lot recently, and possibles/probables make up of ALL the best players from North, Central, and South, that aren’t part of any club or NPC side that won their way through the SR qualifiers. Same in Aus with NSW, QL, and CT, state based bodies nationally run, along side whatever clubs come out trumps from Shute nad Hospital Cup rugby, Force, Rebels, etc. This is the main body of Super Rugby, and you can even have a month were only the rep sides (State, north island/south island teams) play each other, mean that players leave their clubs are a NSW v QL match is a PROPER SoO game.

And of course after Super finishes, these club and rep teams finish in their own competitions during the international season (aug through Nov), to determine who gets to role around and get a shot the following season.

That’s a sustainable model shared around. You’ve got at least three sides each from NZ and Aus to where you’re ensuring the development of kiwi international players, along with the Drua etc, theres a much tight schedule of blockbuster Test level rugby in the front middle of the year, which lead into test selection, and then filler rugby to keep people at top notch during the test calendar. A dozen Test matchs and about a dozen of these high intensity State of Origin matches is more than you want to putting athletes through these days, but the rest of the rugby is going to be just as fun and interesting as you get to follow your club or province through a more meaningful calendar.

And if you can imagine this being done with big investment that brings most of the players from these regions back, like how other tops leagues in France England and Japan retain all their own talent, while throwing in some foreign stars and development of their wonderkids by family clubs like Ponies and you’ll get some blockbuster teams and huge global following.

The players who are leaving, do so knowing that NZR are aware of who they are and have cleared them to play for their offshore contracts.

The players who chose to stay with NZR and for those seeking higher honours, July 4 begins their International campaign as an AB’s squad member under the guidance of head coach Dave Rennie and his coaching staff…

Yes it is impossible for nz with no supporters and no money.

The answer is to dump super rugby. Get the Aussie in the NCP and get the good lads back from the overseas clubs.

Say goodbye to Higgins, Fladdidilly, Fineanganfo, etc in their early twenties?

No!

It is tantamount to accepting Italy status.

We have no money but great players.

I don’t think there’s a real solution to this problem… New Zealand will always remain a small country where financial opportunities are limited. They have to balance things carefully and avoid giving overly lucrative contracts to players over 30. They really need to be very cautious with players in their thirties.

It’s clear that extending Beauden Barrett’s contract was a mistake… at that price. You end up tying up a huge amount of money for a player who is declining.

More opportunities need to be given to players who are not considered regular All Blacks. The All Blacks XV is one solution, but we can see that its impact is limited. Papalii, Flanders, Nanai-Seturo, Ennor, and McLeod were all part of that team, yet it still didn’t prevent them from moving overseas.

The NZR isn’t actually doing such a bad job with the money it has.

But overall, there’s no miracle solution for New Zealand. I’d even say things will probably get worse in the future, and at some point the NZR will be forced to allow the selection of overseas-based players… it’s going to happen, it’s only a matter of time.

Players are free once their contracts end. It’s unrealistic to think they’ll stay in New Zealand to earn three or four times less than they could in Japan, France, or England. There’s no real solution unless the NZR can significantly increase its revenues…

Start implementing worthy player fees, and I’m sure overseas clubs will be less inclined to take any on a whim.

I think it’s important that Super Rugby grows financially to be self-sustainable. This will ultimately lead to long-term growth and better talent pools, as they have in France now.

The international game has already maxed out it’s financial potential, but the domestic game has long way to go before it reaches it’s potential.

In order to do that, there needs to be continued investment in the quality of the sport by retaining good talent, even if they’re not world-class. Super Rugby is growing commercially, especially in Australia, and that trend needs to be fostered.

The flip side is that with NZ sides losing quality players, Aussie sides have become more competitive, leading to a growing fanbase, more competitive matches, which can only be a good thing.

As long as there’s enough of a quality product on show, than people will have something to watch.

The other thing that goes unnoticed is the quality of coaching, compared to Northern Hemisphere sides that have more coaches & a high budget for better brains.

The club World Cup happening soon should hopefully grow the domestic game, but if SH sides can’t retain their talent, there’s a danger they’ll get embarrassed.

Shannon Frizell from semi-retirement in Japan

He has played consistently in Japan since the World Cup when not injured. Hardly a semi-retirement. The top 3 Japanese clubs would be at least mid table in Super Rugby, particularly if they could field all their foreigners at once.

That got me thinking about how many elite players New Zealand loses. Charles Piutau was potentially one, but it’s hard to think of many others. 

This may be the case but I think this is a big issue in NZ rugby thinking. We like to think that players should be All Blacks quality from birth and burst onto the test scene and never look back.

We don’t give enough credit to the value of guys like Flanders who take a few years of professional rugby to reach their potential. This means we loose out on many solid but not superstar players.

Super rugby and NPC as a development pathways obviously suffer, but so do the All Blacks themselves. We don’t have a reserve of experienced club rugby players to draw on when inevitable injuries strike down our blessed superstars. We then have to select the next best 20-24 year old who may or may not have what it takes to make the step up yet (see our lock and half-back crises recently).

France, South Africa and England regularly cap solid 25-28 year old club players and they often fill a gap pretty well and sometimes grasp the opportunity and perform above expectations.