What NZR should do with this Mickey Mouse version of the NPC
Dane Coles’ stated dream is to play a match for Horowhenua-Kapiti.
TJ Perenara prides himself on playing club rugby for Northern United, when available.
Sam Cane and Ma’a Nonu have been the stories of the provincial rugby season, simply by having a trot in the Heartland Championship for King Country and Ngati Porou East Coast respectively.
It suggests something, doesn’t it?
Something like the fact that the community, participatory side of rugby maybe connects better with fans.
I’ve covered Jonah Lomu, Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter’s appearances in club rugby over the years. Each were huge affairs that captured the imagination of the public.
The first two poured with rain, from memory, but didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits.
You don’t have to be particularly perceptive to notice that this country’s flagship provincial competition is in poor health.
Just as it’s not hard to remember when the suffering started.
In 2005, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) sought to create an elite 10-team provincial competition. Unions were invited to apply for inclusion, of which 14 did.
To the shock of all concerned, NZR included the lot.
At different times they adamantly stated that the 14 would become 12. The sums didn’t really add up for teams such as Tasman, Northland and Manawatu but, each time that it appeared a couple of them were gone, NZR let them stay instead.
We have an incoherent 14-team competition. One in which many fans battle to remember who’s in the premiership or championship, thanks partly to the Mickey Mouse idea of crossover matches.
Time was when we very successfully ran three divisions of provincial rugby in this country. For a time there was automatic promotion and relegation, before winner-take-all playoff matches replaced them.
It always felt like there was something on games because the consequences at the end of the competition could be so big.
Now? Well, who even cares?
When Covid first changed the rugby landscape, I argued for NZR to put all their eggs in the provincial basket. To send All Blacks to their province of origin and play a meaningful home-and-away NPC season.
Can’t get multiple teams into the country for a Rugby Championship? No worries. Just fly in one and have them tour the provinces like they did in the old days.
Underwhelmed by Australia’s Super Rugby sides? Forget them. Let’s go provincial and just see how the presence of the All Blacks develops the wider player pool.
Super Rugby Aotearoa too taxing? Fine. By distributing our best players among 14 teams, rather than five, you’ll get games where you’re not too badly bashed up.
Not engaging with enough of the New Zealand rugby community? Fear not. The scope of the provincial game means you’ll reach more fans than you have in decades.
I thought those ideas had merit then and still think it now.
But it’s pipedream stuff. New Zealand Rugby are wedded to the idea of multinational franchise footy and we’ll be seeing the Crusaders and Blues et al playing in global competitions long before we see All Blacks permanently back in the provinces.
And that’s fine. The powers that be deem that this is how you pay bills. You go big and you go worldwide and you rely on offshore eyeballs to fill the coffers.
It’s just that, while our All Blacks wait to play international heavyweights the United States this weekend, the embarrassment that is the NPC plays out before us back here.
What an expensive and unfortunate advertisement that is for our game.
We’ve seen that NZR aren’t inclined to make provincial rugby big, so let’s go small.
Let’s do away with people scratching their heads about whether it’s the Meads Cup or the Lochore Cup that’s the big one. Let’s flag the premiership opponents for championship sides and let’s go divisions one, two and three.
Let’s have combined finals days and combined promotion-relegation match days and let’s try to build some drama and interest around the provincial game.
Good on Nonu for turning up for East Coast, but let’s also try and get that union back to the halcyon days when they were winning Division Three finals or qualifying for the decider in Division Two.
The current provincial model has failed. People couldn’t care less who their local team is playing this week and that has to change.
The bigger unions don’t want to go down to Heartland size. There’s too many incomes at risk for provincial rugby to be purely amateur.
It’s also hard to see a day when NZR flag provincial rugby entirely and put player pathways entirely in the hands of our franchise sides.
So if we are having an NPC, then let’s put some meaning behind it. Let’s tell poor unions and underperforming unions that actually you’re in the second division, like we should have done 15 years ago.
Then let’s see the joy from players and fans when those teams win a promotion-relegation game to earn their way back.
That’s got to be more meaningful than what we’re getting now.
Comments on RugbyPass
To me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
26 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
26 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
48 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
26 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
26 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
26 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
26 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
26 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to commentsI think he is right, SBW is respected in RSA. The guy who never stood up is a worm. Sseems lots of NZ SBW hate, you do the crime do the time.
17 Go to comments