Edinburgh sign Scotland qualified Hurricanes centre Riley Higgins

Wonder if playing for an Aussie side but still being eligible for ABs could’ve avoided this situation or whether it’s purely financial. 23yo prospects in NZ need to be playing regular rugby so you struggle to blame him for the move...a real shame, a good mix of size, skill and speed.

I normally say “all the best” to these guys but this leaves a very sour taste. It feels like someone milking NZ for all it’s worth then taking all the investment elsewhere for teams and unions who had not paid a penny towards it reaping all the benefit. Years of specialist coaching, probably had hundreds of thousands invested in him. He has been selected for all the top teams. They paid his salary while he did rehab for a year and he repays all that by leaving to presumably try to play for another international team.

Once someone plays U20s for NZ, NPC, or Super Rugby, any club or union who wants them should have to pay a transfer fee equivalent to what has been invested in that player.

NZ, Australia, and NZ cannot compete with northern money and have just become talent mills.

Fans in the north hate this too. Seeing 5 out 15 British and Irish Lions running onto the field born outside those countries.

This would also benefit Pacific Island teams who have been depleted more than most.

I hope he comes back to NZ in 3 years a more complete player but something tells me NZR won’t be able to offer the same money as NH clubs will.

Big loss for nz rugby. Higgins was a true rising star and had he stayed almost certainly would’ve been an all black one day.

Letting players this good and this young go is starting to become a real issue. As another reader pointed out he is probably on 100k-150k whereas beauden barret is probably on nearly a million. Long term Higgins is without a doubt the more valuable prospect but our elite focused salary tier structure keeps beauden on the books while our next generation heads overseas. What a terrible business model.

We have to cut the grand-parent pathway route to Nth Hemisphere rugby as we are bleeding players - Wales recently targeted Taylor Cahill from the Crusaders at age 22, Ireland Massimo DL at age 22 - both of whom knocked back the offers, and now we have a 23-year-old heading North, who could push for AB honours in the coming years.

It used to be that the Nth would come sniffing once players knew that players had given up Rep honours for ABs, Wallabies, but now they are going after our younger players.

Someone like Riley Higgins is probably only on around 100-150K Kiwi - so 45K pounds - chicken feed for Northern Club/Union.

At this stage of his career, how can NZ compete in dollar terms - so in both money and playing terms, no brainer for the kid, but if North are starting to target younsters in the Sth - as with the change from 3 to 5 year residency because of Ireland’s behaviour.

Do we need to now reconsider the Grandparent route, noting the effect it will have on teams like Tonga/Samoa?

Can’t make any Hurricanes 23s because of the players ahead of him but he’s really good.

A pity for NZ

He could have been a good AB

The opportunities are few in Kiwi for young players