New Zealand Rugby are never going to get a better opportunity to reclaim ownership of the game
Rugby doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Particularly not here in New Zealand.
It was meddling with a sound model that got the game into its current predicament and it will be going back to what worked before that can fix it.
Pandemic or not, SANZAAR was stuffed. The member unions were going broke and fewer and fewer people wanted to watch Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship.
It’s 2013 since South Africa played a test at Eden Park. That’s right. Like Argentina, New Zealand have afforded the Springboks also-ran status, shipping them off to Wellington and Christchurch and Albany instead.
Our most storied, and allegedly respected, foe didn’t rate a game at the All Blacks’ Eden Park fortress. They were second-tier and shunted off to smaller venues accordingly.
Mickey Mouse games and made up teams won’t make rugby profitable again and they certainly won’t re-engage fans either.
Familiarity bred contempt where All Blacks v Springboks games were concerned. We staged them so often, that people had enough.
We should run a mile from talk of New Zealand meeting the British & Irish Lions in 2021. The greatness of the concept is that you’re forced to wait 12 years for your turn. Let’s never change that.
Let’s not rush to play hybrid union and league games either or North v South, Possibles v Probables or conscript the SANZAAR sides to some locked-down location in Sydney for an abbreviated Rugby Championship. And let’s definitely not run Super Rugby in conjunction with it, as SANZAAR chief executive Andy Marinos has suggested.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) are never going to get a better opportunity to reclaim ownership of their game and reconnect with people left behind in the rush to resource the All Blacks.
Wage demands were bankrupting NZR. And even on $1 million a year, players still wanted time off or lucrative sabbaticals elsewhere. You’d think the least they could do for a million bucks was actually turn up for work every day.
NZR have a few choices in front of them now, including putting people in harm’s way to make a quick buck, as our friends from the NRL appear hellbent on.
That will satisfy a few existing deals and get money flowing again, but it’s a stop-gap measure.
Another would be to say to the millionaires, or wannabe millionaires, among the playing group: All the best. Go try your luck overseas, where they live cheek-by-jowl and the coronavirus mortality rate dwarfs ours here.
NZR cannot sustain their current costs and if private owners elsewhere want to play our elite players a fortune, let them. And if that means players are picked for All Blacks duty from overseas, then it’s a small price to pay for keeping rugby in this country afloat.
Club rugby was dying here. Beyond premier level club competitions and some secondary school grades, we were all going 10 a-side with uncontested scrums.
NZR’s independent report recommended things like contracting schoolboys straight to Super Rugby and all-but doing away with the provincial and club game.
Why? Well, lack of players for starters. Although what that actually means is an inability to engage with the public.
Not to mention a lack of love and resources, given every spare buck was ploughed into trying to satisfy the wage demands of our best players.
Who knows when people will be able to travel freely between nations, or even want to. Until then test rugby has to be out of the question.
And, besides, we’d grown tired of the foes we were repeatedly matched up against anyway.
NZR could work wonders simply by, at the safe and respectful time, making all of our players available to play rugby. No rests, no sabbaticals, just a game every week.
It needn’t be solely at franchise level, either. How much would our battling clubs benefit from having a few All Blacks and Super players make a handful of appearances? What would that not only do for the coffers, but for towns and suburbs trying to get back on their feet after COVID-19?
So many of us love rugby, but our connection to it is at community level or through the players of the past. Men we watched playing club and provincial footy, men who had jobs outside of rugby and who were – at least to a degree – men we felt we could relate to.
We have an established and meaningful framework for rugby. We have clubs and provinces that not just fans are attached to, but players as well. We don’t need to dream up new teams or new competitions; we just need our best players to actually play.
If that’s a chore for our All Blacks or they insist on making a million a year, then they can go. The game – in every sense of the word – can no longer afford to pay them the money they’ve been on. At least not if we want community and provincial rugby too.
No-one wants to watch the Reds and Bulls and Sunwolves anymore. We want to see the best New Zealand players pitted against each other and, by dint of these unique circumstances, we can go back to that.
And, by happy coincidence, NZR will also be able to pay for it – and fund all the other levels of the game – by bringing wages down. A salary of $200,000 is still an absolute fortune by New Zealand standards and more than fair for playing rugby.
This pandemic has given us a chance to look at what’s essential and what’s not and it’s very hard to argue that giving $800,000-plus to an All Black is money well spent.
So let’s not dream up ways to keep these blokes in the fashion to which they’ve become accustomed. Let’s not keep pretending we can’t get enough of Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship.
Let’s instead return to a model that we once liked very much, that reflected our nation and its values and which, just as importantly, we were able to pay for.
Comments on RugbyPass
“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks 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.
17 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 comments