'Envy of a lot of the rugby world': Sam Cane's agent jumps into All Blacks eligibility debate
Sam Cane has suggested that the All Blacks eligibility rules should be reviewed but his agent has defended New Zealand Rugby’s stance on picking overseas players.
Top rugby agent Simon Porter, who manages Cane among other high profile names, said that New Zealand is the “envy of most the rugby world” when it comes to contracts.
The formation of the eligibility rules at the dawn of professionalism was more by accident than by design, but the agent believed it was one of the core competitive advantages that drives success with the All Blacks today.
“When rugby went professional in 1996, we adopted the central contracting model,” Porter explained on Newstalk ZB’s Talksport with D’Arcy Waldegrave.
“By need more than anything, we didn’t have private money that was potentially on offer from England and France, to come in and make clubland the primary contract holder.
“We went centrally contracted and that meant that New Zealand Rugby were the ones that put up all the money and had all the rights etc. and contracted all the players.
“The one thing in this debate that I think you cannot underestimate or overlook is that, even though we haven’t had success at the last two World Cups in the men’s game, it is still our competitive advantage.”
Porter pointed to Australia’s desire to copy the centralised model as evidence of this competitive advantage that New Zealand has.
As Rugby Australia grapples with in-fighting at the top after ousting chairman Hamish McLennan, they have expressed a desire to centralise their system to align all the bodies in the game.
A strong system is required to fight the growing demands of professionalism and offshore leagues who want to attract the best players.
“We are the envy of a lot of the rugby world in how we contract,” he said.
“We see Australia with their moves. They are trying to centralise, bring everything under the same tent.
“That is basically just trying to replicate what we have. You have to remember it is a competitive advantage and then matching that you’ve got the advancing of professionalism.
“Advancing of players wanting to play around the world in different competitions, and you’ve got those competitions who want the best players.
“At the end of the day everything in sport is a competition for eyeballs.”
For New Zealand rugby players the dream has always been to become an All Black, and Porter believes that is still the case today.
But having seen the landscape change from amateur to professional, the younger generation don’t know of anything different other than fully professional.
The players that are coming through view the game as a means to set themselves up for life as opposed to players during the amateur days.
“The lure of the black jersey is still very strong, there is no doubt,” he said.
“But what you are also getting is a breed of rugby player where rugby has only been professional in their lifetime.
“They don’t know the stories of the sacrifices or the brown paper envelopes paid in Italy or anything like that. They only know professionalism.
“They are brought up laser-focused on wanting rugby to be what they do, how they make their money, how they can set themselves up.
“This breeds the next question of how do I do that, when do I give up on the dream.”
The hot topic is less of an issue than it is being made out to be, with the agent revealing the number of players leaving New Zealand from his agency is lower than previous post-World Cup years in the past.
The “cyclical” nature of the rugby business built around a four-year Rugby World Cup cycle meant that this generally always happens.
“Every four years this debate rolls around because it’s a World Cup year and there is an exodus,” he said.
“It’s pretty cyclical in nature, the big names head off after the World Cup because they’ve done their time in the jersey and want to hand it on.
“I know it is an interesting talking point but I don’t know it is the big issue that everyone makes it out to be.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Well you’ve made a proper tit of yourself, haven’t you! 😂
173 Go to commentsBen it's beyond their comprehension-
203 Go to commentsThanks Sam. Interesting read. Harder or easier for Parling to come into a completely new setup where performance was abysmal last time out? I’d suggest easier to be better but, as you suggest, will be a lot to do with how much latitude he’s granted. Hopefully all he needs. With hybrids like Holloway, Hannigan, Swinton and Leota as options at 6 we have the basics for a strong lineout. BPA returning means we have good options at 2 also with Faessler, Porecki and Uelese, although Jordan is a scrumming beast rather than a dart thrower. I’m typically a pessimist or realist but that’s never applied to the Wallabies
1 Go to commentsMad how this somehow contained absolutely zero information.
1 Go to commentsI’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
2 Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
9 Go to commentsWith Stuart Lancaster at the helm, Racing 92 looks more and more a mercenaries club like Toulon some years ago and they are not even performing despite all the money on offer.
4 Go to commentsCouple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
9 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
5 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
5 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
4 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
4 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
5 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
5 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
203 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
9 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
9 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
203 Go to comments