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'We've all made this sacrifice': All Blacks legend's impassioned plea to NZ Government about hosting test matches
Sir John Kirwan has sent an impassioned message to the Government around the lack of progress made around All Blacks tests this year.
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Speaking on Sky Sport‘s The Breakdown, where he is a co-host of the show, the All Blacks legend called out the Government over the roadblocks around creating a tournament to bring teams into the country to face the national rugby side.
“What’s upset me the most is we’ve created an amazing environment in New Zealand. Even this last lockdown was only in Auckland,” Kirwan said.
“Our Prime Minister said the other day it can happen. I don’t know why the tournament is not here. How can Fiji go to London? Why aren’t we having this competition in New Zealand with England, with whoever it is?
“We’ve made all this sacrifice to make it the safest country in the world and what is happening? I heard it’s going to be in Brisbane. Like I said, Fiji is going North. What is happening?”
Kirwan’s comments come after several leading sports administrators made pleas to the Government about the need to open borders in a controlled manner to allow international teams into the country, otherwise professional sports could be in huge trouble.
The prospect of having All Blacks tests this year – in New Zealand or abroad – has been a mystery, with fresh doubts emerging following several setbacks around the Bledisloe Cup and the Rugby Championship.
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New Zealand Rugby hopes to play test matches against at least Australia and a Pacific team, and possibly hosting the Rugby Championship – featuring Australia, South Africa and Argentina – later this year.
However, doubts have emerged over the logistical difficulties of securing locations for visiting nations to train while in quarantine, as strict border restrictions continue due to the pandemic.
News over the weekend that six players from the Pumas tested positive for Covid-19 added fresh doubts over the likelihood of the four-nation tournament going ahead.
NZ Rugby is more hopeful of a Bledisloe Cup series against the Wallabies but that has also been complicated by border restrictions and a resurgence of the virus in both countries.
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Rugby Australia recently announced that the Bledisloe test scheduled to be held in Melbourne this year would be postponed to 2022, while reports from the Sydney Morning Herald suggest Australia are about to pinch the Rugby Championship from New Zealand due to “superior commercial modelling and quarantine conditions”.
A meeting is being held by Sanzaar, the governing body of the Rugby Championship and Super Rugby, on Thursday, with a decision on the future of the competitions reportedly set to be announced this weekend.
Kirwan called on Minister of Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson to figure out a way to bring other nations into New Zealand to play sport in a safe way, saying the country needs to see the fruits of its labour around the sacrifices made from stringent lockdowns and its status as one of the safest countries in the world.
“Grant Robertson is our Minister of Sport. Come on mate, let’s do this. I know you’re saying ‘we can’t do this for the normal people and this for [professional sport]’. I disagree. Sport is an integral part of how we feel good. How good was it for us to watch sport during Covid? Straight out of Covid, all the people turned up. So we need to make exceptions for our sports people by doing the right things.
“I’m sure if you ask New Zealand, put them two weeks in quarantine in their own country, fly them down in a private jet – and I’m not just saying rugby, I’m saying our golfers [etc.] – let’s use New Zealand at the moment to create some real sporting events.
“Yeah we might have to change a couple of rules, but I’m sure we can look after the country and do that.”
Kirwan, who scored 35 tries in 63 tests for New Zealand, also questioned the lack of transparency at New Zealand Rugby and the radio silence around All Blacks tests this year.
“I also want to know why the New Zealand Rugby union is not putting some pressure on. Why are we so quiet? Where’s our transparency, people? We need to know. We don’t know what’s happening on Thursday night.
“Why can’t we come out and talk about this stuff in the public domain. We all have a right to know because we’ve all made these sacrifices.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that there is a “real possibility” of All Blacks tests and the Rugby Championship being held in New Zealand, but admitted it is “not just down to us”.
Robertson echoed the Prime Minister’s comments, saying the Government is working on hosting sporting events in New Zealand but said the safety of New Zealanders is the top priority.
“We’re currently working through with a number of sports around what they would like to happen …we’ve been working with rugby, we’ve been also talking to cricket and netball, and there are others who are now interested,” Robertson said in reaction to pleas from three leading sports administrators to relax Covid-19 border restrictions.
“I want as many sporting competitions as we can possibly get [but] clearly our priority has to be to keep New Zealanders safe and that will remain at the top of our list.”
Robertson added that Government support since the lockdown in March has kept many sporting organisations afloat but that work is being done to ensure Kiwis “get to see their heroes in action”.
Comments on RugbyPass
Hope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
1 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
9 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
39 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
9 Go to comments