By LINDSAY KNIGHT - RugbyHeaven | Tuesday, 08 July 2008
Everyone in world rugby, even those besotted with the yen and pound in the Northern Hemisphere, probably agree that the international game's foremost lock at present is Springbok Victor Matfield, followed closely by a group which includes All Black Ali Williams.
So one of the most significant aspects from last weekend's opening Tri-Nations test in Wellington was just how much off the pace even a champion like Matfield was. The reason, of course, was that he came straight into what remains one of world rugby's most intensely contested matches from a diet of playing French club rugby.
It surely was another salutary lesson for those many misguided folk clamouring for the New Zealand union to reverse what to now has been a staunch insistence that to qualify for All Black selection players must be based in this country.
It is to be hoped that remains and any compromise will go no further than the sort of sabbatical deal which has been offered Daniel Carter.
Picking off-shore players is too fraught with difficulty, even from those countries where there is a reasonable standard of club competition. And selecting someone from a country like Japan, whose modest levels even with a side boosted by New Zealanders have been again shown in the latest Pacific Nations Cup tournament, would be unthinkable.
The present policy should remain in place, even if some of those urging a review have been former All Blacks who have succumbed to the lure of the money on offer off-shore.
If one can't agree with their view, their motivation is easily understood. A little more difficult to follow is the rationale behind some of the media types echoing this call.
It is true that not too much notice should be taken of talkback radio. But the logic of one recent caller to a radio station suggesting that the fact New Zealand soccer had secured Ryan Nelsen for two pool games at the upcoming Olympic Games was an example New Zealand rugby should follow was distorted beyond belief.
Surely, the process New Zealand soccer had to follow in securing the permission of the Blackburn club for Nelsen's partial release for such a prestigious event illustrated the very opposite. Nelsen, one of the few New Zealanders to have become even close to soccer world class, last played for the All Whites in 2004.
Yet oddly enough, unless some glaring anomalies and inequities in New Zealand rugby's present contract systems are addressed, some of the country's provincial unions might find themselves thinking that they might be better off, at least financially, if several of our elite players were off-shore.
The unfairness in the system has been compounded by the ever increasing test programme. A consequence of this is that for the Air New Zealand Cup provincial sides are being denied the services of All Blacks, who clearly can't be in two places at once.
This will get worse with the proposed restructure of the playing calendar, which while sensible in some aspects, is going to mean the 26 or so players in an All Black squad will not be available ever again for their provinces. That has already happened to some extent. Canterbury, as one example, has seen little of Carter since 2004. Since his first class debut in 2002 he has played only 21 provincial games.
Under the present system All Blacks have three contracts, one to play internationally, one for the Super 14 and a third with provincial unions. Even if a player never appears for a province he must still be paid by it under the terms of his contract.
This has affected even the most financially-straitened unions. Otago in 2007 had to pay for the services of four players, James Ryan, Anton Oliver, Carl Hayman and Nick Evans, who never once appeared for the union.
North Harbour, with the added disadvantage of not being a Super 14 host union, will be similarly affected this year, with four All Blacks, Anthony Tuitavake, Anthony Boric, Tony Woodcock and Rudi Wulf, accounting for a big part of their payment budget but unlikely to ever make an appearance.
Harbour also has Nick Williams on its pay-roll, even though he has elected to opt out of this year's Air New Zealand Cup to have shoulder surgery, presumably so he can recover in time to go overseas.
Some tough questions are looming for the New Zealand union and how the Air New Zealand Cup can be reshaped to be more competitive and more financially sustainable.
Just how the NZRU will pare the teams in the premiership by two or three is one. Tasman appears to be self destructing, which takes care of one, but who should be the others?
And equally pressing is a contracts formula, which is fairer to the provincial unions.
Is Victor Matfield struggling? Is this related to playing offshore? Are there lessons to be learned here for New Zealand? Have your say on our comments system below.
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