Zimboks show up SA hypocrisy

Posted in Springboks, Super 14 by keo www.keo.co.za

The inclusion of three Zimbabwean players in the Springboks is to be applauded. But it also means South Africans can no longer point a finger at New Zealand’s supposed reliance on the Pacific Islands to produce All Blacks.

There can’t be double standards applied to this one. The perception, ignorantly presented as fact, is that New Zealand cashes in on talent from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji and rapes the Islands of their senior players. Absolute nonsense, but that’s never stopped any critic outside of New Zealand having a go at the Kiwis.

If you want the definitive argument about that one with all the players dates of birth and places of birth then mail Kiwi rugby writer Jim Kayes at the Dominion Post. He did a fantastic piece during the World Cup showing the ignorance of that argument and proving more New Zealand born players with Pacific Islander heritage represented the Island teams at the World Cup than Pacific Island born players who represented the All Blacks.

Most of the Pacific Island All Blacks were born or schooled in New Zealand. Only a handful were poached at an advanced stage.

When the Bok selectors picked three Zimbabweans who only arrived in South Africa at an advanced stage there hasn’t so much as been a whisper.

I say pick the best if they are in your country and eligible. I don’t agree with the IRB regulation that a player can only play for one country. What for example of a 21 year-old who played one test but relocates to another country and settles there. There is a case to be argued for restraint of trade if that country wants to pick him and the country he played a test for doesn’t. It is a case that will still happen.

There is so much ignorance relative to heritage and place of birth. Jonah Lomu, as an example is called Tongan, but he was born in South Auckland.

Frank Bunce is an example of a bloke who played for Samoa because his grandmother was Samoan but he was all Kiwi from birth until when he made his Samoan debut. To use these examples is the same as implying Bob Skinstad (born in Zimbabwe but moved to South Africa as a youngster) and Gary Teichmann (born in Zimbabwe but moved to South Africa as an eight year old) are examples of how South Africa has robbed Zimbabwe of their talent.

The Boks did take Adrian Garvey, who learned all his rugger in Zimbabwe and played for Zimbabwe at the 1991 World Cup, but this is the first mass selection of players who did all the hard yards in Zimbabwe.

Hopefully it will lead to a bit of introspection of the part of the South African punter when having a go at the number of Islanders in the New Zealand side. And the same applies when Australia is attacked for taking the best of Fiji, Tonga or Samoa. As we saw at the last World Cup, the best of those nations are playing for those nations.

When I spent some time with Percy Montgomery at Perpignan I had a chat with Samoan No 8 Henry Tuiligi, who plays for Perpignan. Tuiligi, behind the All Blacks tight five, would be an even bigger monster than he is and when it comes to assessing the best No 8s in the game he would always be listed on the basis that he plays for the All Blacks. But he plays for Samoa, is not automatically ranked among the best, and doesn’t really care. He has never wanted to play for the All Blacks.

He told me people make their choice, but he grew up in Samoa and his ambition was to wear the blue and not black jersey.

It is a player choice and for the most the guys play for the country in which they were raised. If more thought was given to making Samoa, Tonga and Fiji wealthier in rugby structure and operational terms, the choice would be that much easier for players with Island heritage.

New Zealand Maori Riki Flutey is being tipped to play for England after serving a three year qualification. So too Glen Jackson. Matt Stevens, who left South Africa at 19, is spoken of as if he spent his entire life in the UK.

The point of all of this is if a bloke is eligible, through birth, residency or heritage, then do as the Bok selectors have done with three Zimbabwean players … pick him.

Ruthless Deans dents Brett's ABs chances

By DUNCAN JOHNSTONE - RugbyHeaven | Thursday, 22 May 2008

Robbie Deans has brought a dramatic dose of reality to Stephen Brett's claims for an All Blacks jersey.

Dean's decision to dump Brett to the bench for Saturday night's sudden death semifinal showdown with the Hurricanes is a blow to Brett's test aspirations.

It's also a clear indication that the defensive question marks that plague the talented Brett are very real.

Deans has decided that Tim Bateman is a safer option against the raw power of Ma'a Nonu than Brett.

In terms of the bigger picture, it's advantage Nonu even before the whistle blows to kick-off this New Zealand derby that is undoubtedly an All Blacks trial.

There is no doubt that Brett is one of the most talented young footballers going around in the New Zealand game at the moment.

His tactical kicking is astute though his goal kicking is a little less so. His distribution is sweet and his reading of situations nearly always spot-on. His running game is almost unmatched and his versatility in being able to switch between No 10 and second five-eighths makes him a real asset.

But his defence - for the Crusaders and Canterbury - has always had a suspect look to it.

Second five isn't a place for frailty in test rugby while the new laws have added greater defensive responsibilities to the first five's game. The five-metre rule at scrum time makes that an increasingly attractive attacking channel.

Now it seems Deans has decided that Brett's defence is too risky to start a match of this importance.

So where does that leave him in terms of the All Blacks then?

The national selectors make no secret of the fact that these are the sort of games where they look to finalise their options.

If you have a toss-up situation between two players then the performance in a Super 14 semifinal is an ideal barometer to make the final call.

It's hard to judge a player sitting on the bench.

But there are few better judges of character and ability than Deans.

This will have been a tough decision for him because Brett has been central to the Crusaders' success this year.

He looked to be getting to grips with the No 12 jersey when he was operating in tandem with Dan Carter through the first five weeks of the championship. They were a sweet combination as teams tried to find their way around the new rules before Brett injured a shoulder against the Cheetahs.

When Carter was ruled out with a major ankle problem, Brett eventually stepped back in from his own rehab to keep things ticking over at No 10.

But with the Crusaders spluttering a bit over the past few rounds and then looking downright shabby in last week's upset loss to the Highlanders where Brett was back in the midfield, the master coach has decided it's time to make some tough calls.

There's no room for Brett in his starting XV just as there is no room for a sentimental decision on Reuben Thorne who is also dropped to the bench as the Crusaders look for the right loose forwards mix to compete against an area of strength for the Hurricanes.

Thorne is no longer an option for the All Blacks but Brett certainly is as the New Zealand selectors start looking at their long term alternatives to the likes of Nick Evans and possibly Carter at first five.

But right now they have a more immediate hole to fill at second five-eighths with recent regulars Aaron Mauger, Luke McAlister and Sam Tuitupou having departed the scene.

Many critics were looking at Brett as an answer there.

But Deans, about to take over as Wallabies coach, may have already answered that with this latest selection choice.

Unless, of course, the conspiracy theorists suggest Deans is selling the All Blacks a dummy!

I would rubbish that. Deans is too much of a realist. These are the sort of games that the Crusaders thrive on, the sort of challenges they have seen off in claiming six titles.

This is a time for the ruthless attitude that has been the hallmark of Deans and his teams.

With a seventh title beckoning there is too much at stake right now and that's why the red and blacks have made their midfield mix of Bateman and Casey Laulala to confront Nonu and Conrad Smith.

When push comes to shove in a week or so will the All Blacks selectors think the same way when they name their first squad of the year?

Does Graham Henry follow Deans' lead or does he have faith in Brett's all round game? Is Brett a better first five than a second five or is he lost in between?

Right now it seems that if Brett is to get a spot at all it might be in a bench role at best.

Pummelling Palu and co.

Posted in Super 14 by Ryan Vrede www.keo.co.za

Nullifying the Waratahs’ loose trio will be vital if the Sharks hope to progress to the Super 14 final.

Eighthman Wycliff Palu, in particular, has sprung to prominence in the latter part of the Waratahs’ campaign. Last year the Australian press sounded a warning to the rest of the world about Palu’s ability. They spoke of his power with ball in hand and the pace to complement that power. They lauded his ability to link with the backline and marvelled at his handling skills. Let’s not forget his supposed brilliant anticipation and ability to read the game.

Palu failed to match his hype in 2007. However, those qualities are evident in 2008. He has been a key figure in the Waratahs’ resurgence after an ordinary start and he was outstanding in their 25-10 victory over the Sharks in Round 11 of the tournament - scoring two tries. The first came after he put a massive hit on AJ Venter which dislodged the ball. The Waratahs scooped up the pill and ran at an unset defence before Palu rounded off the move he begun by bulldozing over two defenders.

It is essential that the Sharks stand firm in the collisions with the 120kg bruiser. They failed to do so in the their previous fixture and paid a heavy price.

But while keeping Palu anonymous will be central to their plans, the Sharks can ill-afford to channel their energy towards him alone. In Rocky Elsom and Phil Waugh, Palu has a supporting cast of the highest calibre.

Elsom was injured for the previous encounter, but has since returned with devastating effect. He adds grunt to the back row but integrates that with intelligence, making him a dangerous opponent.

If Palu was the hitman against the Sharks, Waugh engineered the murder with his relentless and highly effective breakdown contest. He turned over seven times in the second half alone, and slowed sufficient ball to ensure that the Sharks were never in the contest. An encore performance from the master pilferer and the Sharks will see an already difficult task become a near impossible one.

They’ve committed to being patient in their phase play, and that approach paid dividends against the Chiefs on Saturday. Their ball carriers were seldom isolated and as a result the Chiefs’ attempts to steal possession proved futile. They’ll need to replicate their efficiency in that facet of play in Sydney.

However, rugby is a study of cause and effect relationships. The Waratahs pack have made dramatic improvement to their set phase and general play this season, to the point where they have troubled some of the tournament’s finest heavies. The result has been that Palu and co have had the platform from which to attack.

Coaches and forwards routinely tell you that rugby matches are won and lost up front. Backs will disagree, but in this particular semi-final, even they will concede. The match will be won by the team whose defenders are willing to put in the ground gaining tackles on 100kg-plus men, the team whose primary ball carriers bust the gain line regularly and the team who have the ascendency at the set phases.

The backs will take the stage in the final quarter. But the match situation at that point will depend almost entirely on the effectiveness of the beef eaters. In this regard, Palu and co need to be non-factors.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

By Marc Stein ESPN.com

NEW ORLEANS -- They watched Tim Duncan clank his last 10 shots. They squandered almost all of a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter. They didn't even shoot 40 percent from the floor.

You hear all that and you are bound to wonder how the San Antonio Spurs managed to win the first Game 7 on the road of the Duncan Era.

Then you remember: It's the Spurs, silly.

They're getting older, true, but the upside there is that advancing age might make them even more stubborn. Too stubborn to realize that they're getting older.

It's a theory that made as much sense as anything Monday night, when San Antonio kept grinding through every blip -- as usual -- while also hitting the Hornets with a devastating mix of smothering (and confusing) defense, killer threes sprinkled in among those many misses and copious doses of the savvy we were expecting from the defending champs in at least one of their three previous visits to New Orleans Arena.

In other words ...

The Spurs were the Spurs.

Finally.

It took until the final game and 16th day of this second-round series for the heartbroken locals to get their first glimpse of them, but the execution masters from the Alamo City duly arrived for this Game 7, snuffing out the Hornets and their storybook season with a 91-82 victory that sends San Antonio into a Western Conference finals showdown with old friends Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and Phil Jackson.

It was a prototype performance from the Spurs' Uglyball manual, which almost guarantees that it will elicit many shrugs from folks out there who were smitten by the irresistible Chris Paul and hoping for something different: CP3 dueling Kobe for a spot in the NBA Finals, namely.

Not that the Spurs will take offense. They've come to expect a lack of appreciation for that trademark execution ... and it has to be noted that even they were shrugging.

The turnaround witnessed in Game 7 isn't nearly as blasé as the Spurs made it sound -- given how punchless they were in their three blowout losses here and how unreservedly dreadful they were in the three previous third quarters here -- but you scarcely saw a smile from a Spur when it was all over. There were few hugs or high fives or even joyful sighs of relief.

"We haven't done anything," Spurs forward Robert Horry explained. "What did we do? We didn't win a championship."

Added Tony Parker: "It's a great win, don't get me wrong. But I don't think we're going to celebrate because we're in the conference finals."

Perhaps not. Yet you could nonetheless argue that the victory -- virtually sealed by a huge late jumper from Parker after Jannero Pargo missed a potential game-tying triple from the corner -- was among the most significant in franchise history.

It has taken the Spurs farther than ever before in the chase for back-to-back titles. In each of its previous four attempts to repeat, Team Duncan didn't make it out of the second round.

The win also sealed the Spurs' first-ever comebacks from series deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 ... and put them in the NBA's Final Four opposite a team which actually presents fewer unfavorable matchups than the Hornets did.

Seriously.

Bumper Go Figure: Season In Numbers

Sarah Winterburn | Posted 12/05/08 16:42 | football365.com

0 - League games in which ManYoo and Arsenal conceded more than two goals. Plus, games lost by Chelsea when Ricardo Carvalho was on the pitch.

1 - Win managed this season by Derby. Shame on you Newcastle. Plus; Fulham win achieved without Brian McBride (he was out for almost six months).

2 - Goals scored by Chelsea's £13.5m signing Florent Malouda.

3 - Clean sheets cobbled together by relegated clubs Derby and Birmingham. Plus, games in which ManYoo failed to score (v Reading, Man City and Bolton).

4 - Premier League goals scored by Derby's top scorer Kenny Miller.

5 - Points dropped at Old Trafford by Manchester United - in the opening-day draw with Reading and the derby defeat to Manchester City. Plus, games won by Liverpool in which Fernando Torres or Steven Gerrard failed to score.

6 - Wins for Fulham under Roy Hodgson in 18 league games in charge - a win rate roughly equal to Alan Curbishley's at West Ham over the whole season.

7 - Points picked up by Manchester City against Big Four sides, including a double over ManYoo. Plus, goals conceded in the final five minutes of games by Chelsea.

8 - Premier League clubs who have changed their manager this season. Plus, English players who made it to double scoring figures (that figure was six last season).

9 - Points picked up by West Ham in their last 12 games of the season. Only Derby ended the season in worse form. Plus, number of games won 1-0 by Chelsea.

10 - Points picked up by Newcastle against top-half opposition. Plus, number of league titles now won by Ryan Giggs.

11 - Yellow cards picked up by PL bad boys Nicky Butt, El Hadji Diouf and Michael Brown.

12 - Goals in as many games for Ronaldo in the Premier League season run-in.

13 - Goals scored by Tottenham substitutes - more than any other side.

15 - Tottenham games featuring four or more goals. Plus, number of scoring Arsenal players in the Premier League.

18 - Players who have started Premier League games for Aston Villa.

19 - Goal assists attributed to Cesc Fabregas by the Premier League website.

20 - Players given Premier League winner's medals this season - including Gerard Pique and Tomasz Kuszczak, who received special dispensation.

21 - Points gained by Arsenal from losing positions.

22 - Percentage of Everton's goals that came from their defenders.

24 - League goals scored by Fernando Torres in his first season of English football, beating the 'foreign newcomer' record set by Ruud van Nistelrooy.

27 - Goals scored in the final 15 minutes of games by Arsenal.

31 - League goals scored by Ronaldo this season. He joins Alan Shearer, Kevin Phillips and Thierry Henry in the 30-plus club.

33 - Points dropped from winning positions by Tottenham.

38 - Number of goals scored at Fratton Park and the JJB Stadium this season - the lowest total in the Premier League.

41 - Goals scored by Englishmen for Aston Villa.

57 - League goals scored by Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo this season from a ManYoo total of 80. That's more goals than fifth-placed Everton.

71 - Goals scored by Aston Villa, making them more potent than either Liverpool or Chelsea.

80 - Number of goals scored at White Hart Lane this season in the league.

85 - Yellow cards picked up by Middlesbrough in 38 games.

93 - Fouls committed by Aston Villa's John Carew, who beat Kevin Davies into second place of that particular table.

777 - Number of minutes between Derby goals on September 29 and December 8.

1002 - Total number of goals scored in the division - the highest total since 2003/04.

3420 - Minutes played by Birmingham's Stephen Kelly to make him the only truly ever-present outfield player in the Premier League.

Modric maps a future for the old-school playmaker

blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport > Jonathan Wilson May 6, 2008 10:32 AM

Classic No10s like Riquelme may remain a glorious anachronism in Argentinian tradition but Luka Modric points the way ahead in Europe

Until last week, the only time I had seen Juan Román Riquelme in the flesh was when England beat Argentina in that friendly in Geneva in 2005. That night he was superb, embarrassing Ledley King, and it was almost as though the surge of relief after he was withdrawn with five minutes remaining carried England to score two late goals and win a game in which they'd been outplayed. But even that is not really to see Riquelme.

No, to see him truly you have to see him in his natural habitat, playing for Boca Juniors in the Bombonera, at the court he holds in his thrall. I saw him in Boca's 2-1 win over Cruzeiro in the Copa Libertadores last Wednesday, when he was very, very good; then on Sunday in the superclassico against River Plate, when he was very, very bad (although he was still far better than poor, broken Ariel Ortega).

In both games there was a palpable thrill in the crowd when he came into possession, a sense of expectation, a desire for him to do something, anything even vaguely constructive so they could sing his name. Riquelme once commented that when his side lost, it was always his responsibility. That is neither self-pity nor arrogance: it is simply the truth.

To a British eye at least, the way he plays is astonishing. He is the creative fulcrum, rarely venturing back into his own half, despite Boca fielding two orthodox centre-forwards in Martin Palermo and Rodrigo Palacio. This is a position - the "enganche" (literally, the "hook") - that simply no longer exists in western Europe. Perhaps in Argentina, where there is a self-conscious artistry to the football, the role will linger, but the comparison with Croatia, another nation where the No10 has historically been revered, is instructive. Evolution is never linear, so this is an over-simplification, but it could just be that while Riquelme is the last of the old-school playmakers, Luka Modric is the first of the new.

Even in Argentina, where the 4-3-1-2 remains the default, Riquelme is regarded as slightly old-fashioned. "Riquelme's brains," Jorge Valdano said, "save the memory of football for all time ... he is a player of the time when life was slow and we took the chairs out on the streets to play with the neighbours." It is not quite true to say he never attempts to regain possession once it is lost, but he certainly doesn't prioritise chasing and harrying.

To watch Boca is to be reminded of an excessively unionised workplace in which no one dares go beyond the precise remit of their job description. At one point on Sunday Boca's holding midfielder Sebastian Battaglia, who headed the only goal and was generally excellent, won a tackle, steadied himself and began to advance into space, only to tap the ball needlessly to Riquelme when he reached the halfway line. He could have kept going, Riquelme could have made a run, there would have been options: but that is not the way things are done at Boca.

In Croatia the default formation, at least until very recently, has been the 3-4-1-2, a formation that places a similar creative burden on the number 10. That was the shape Zlatko Kranjcar employed in the 2006 World Cup, with his son Niko as the playmaker. In Germany the set-up was made to look sluggish and outmoded, partly because playing three centre-backs is only really effective against two out-and-out forwards and the majority of sides now play with only one striker (so instead of two markers and a libero, you get a marker, a libero and a redundant player, with the wing-backs forced back to deal with the opposing wide-men), but also because when there is only one creative outlet, it is relatively easy to stem the supply.

For years football was about individual battles, but since the Sixties it has become increasingly systematised. Valeriy Lobanovskyi always insisted that a team was "a dynamic energy system" in which the energy of the collective was greater than the sum of the energies of the individual units within it. In a sense the bonds between the units were of greater significance than the units themselves. What that means in practical terms is that whereas previously a playmaker could flourish if he could get the better of his marker, now he could find two or even three men on him - and this is the crucial part - without his team-mates being left dangerously free elsewhere on the pitch.

There were never 10 battles going on simultaneously; a systematised approach tries to move the players whose battles are not taking place at that specific time to over-man in key areas - essentially near the ball - rotating and moving accordingly. As Arrigo Sacchi puts it, a player should move not according to where he thinks a player in his position should move, but by assessing the position of the ball, his team-mates, the space and his opponents. Nothing is fixed, everything is relative.

All of which means that the classic playmaker is doomed. In Argentina, where the victory of system over the individual is not yet won, and in international football, in which a lack of training time means systems are necessarily less sophisticated, perhaps he will continue to prosper, but essentially Riquelme is a glorious anachronism. In Croatia too, system has yet fully to take hold, and Modric operates in a similar way for Dinamo Zagreb.

What has been striking about him, though, is the way he has changed his game at international level. When Slaven Bilic replaced Zlatko Kranjcar as national coach, he announced he was doing away with the 3-4-1-2 in favour of a Dutch-style 4-3-3. That created panic amid traditionalists, who see the playmaker as central to Croatian football, but they need not have worried. In the end Bilic settled on a 4-1-3-2, and managed to fit into that two players who have in the past played as No10s - Niko Kranjcar and Modric. Kranjcar is now happily adapted to a left-sided attacking midfield role, but Modric too has had to change his game.

"For Dinamo he plays in the hole but for the national team he's another midfielder, playing in the middle with Niko Kovac," Kranjcar explained. "He showed against England when he played against Barry, Lampard and Gerrard that he can cope in the middle of the pitch against English opposition. I don't think it will be a problem. He's maybe not going to push players around, but with his quickness of feet, and his balance and his vision he'll cope. He's really special. He's a player who's really comfortable on the ball. People enjoy having him in the team. He's quick of thought. Good with both feet, can run all day long, and he plays football. He's got a great future."

The Tottenham-bound Modric himself has spoken of the "increased defensive responsibility" he has with the national team, and that is what marks him out as a different kind of playmaker. He can take his place within a system, rather than living apart, having to have the system built around him as was the case with old-school No10s like Riquelme. None of that, of course, means that his apparently frail physical frame will necessarily be able to cope with an English season - it is a very different thing to survive a physical battering over the course of 38 games than in a one-off qualifier - but it does suggest the sort of intelligence and adaptability he will need to prosper in the Premier League. There is, to use that word so beloved of Lobanovskyi and Sacchi, a "universality" about him that marks him as a thoroughly modern player.

Time to confront realities of life after Dan

By MARC HINTON - RugbyHeaven | Tuesday, 06 May 2008

Putting aside the much bigger issue for a moment, New Zealand rugby could be on the verge of a crisis in the all-important first five-eighths position.

With Nick Evans having declared he's off to Harlequins, on a two and a-half year deal said to be worth £1 million ($NZ2.5m) and Dan Carter mulling over a shorter-term offer at close to $2 million a year, New Zealand rugby is staring a harsh reality in the face. And it's not a pretty picture.

It is that the All Blacks, by the next internationals season at the very latest, will have neither Carter nor Evans to call on to guide them through the testing 80-minute passage of a top-line test match. That sentence, at this stage of proceedings, should only be spoken in hushed tones.

There is still hope that Carter can be retained, with the Crusaders star confirming on Monday he had yet to make up his mind regarding his future beyond this year. But the writing – or rather the zeroes in his pay-packet – appears to be on the wall.

The NZRU are desperate to retain Carter's services in one form or another, and if he can't be kept in this country they are prepared to grant a dangerous precedent and give him carte blanche for an immediate re-entry to the All Blacks as soon as he becomes available again.

This so-called Sabbatical Clause, or as it's more popularly known the Carter Rule, is dubious in both its merit and effect, but it does reflect how desperate the NZRU are.  They know they can't compete with the sort of money Toulon, Toulouse and now Saracens and Northampton are prepared to throw at Carter. So at least they're thinking outside the square a little.

In Carter's case they're prepared to waive the qualification rule that says you must be playing your rugby in New Zealand to be selected for the All Blacks to encourage him to take a shorter-term deal that could see him back in the black jersey sooner rather than later. That's how desperate they are.

And here's why: Stephen Brett and Stephen Donald.

Neither are what you might call cast-iron test match players. Brett is inexperienced and still finding his feet as a No 10 at the Super 14 level, let alone the test one. He's promising, no doubt, but could definitely do with a year or two more in his apprenticeship. There's even a school of thought that he'd be better learning the ropes at No 12 before moving into the pivot.

Donald has more miles on the clock and has a bit more X-factor about him than Brett. But he's also wildly inconsistent, as evidenced by last week's case of the yips at the worst possible time for the Chiefs in Perth. To think of the enigmatic Chiefs No 10 having to make the key decisions down the closing stages of a major test is not exactly reassuring.

Beyond this pair the cupboard is not exactly bulging at the seams either. The Highlanders have had a revolving door policy at 10 this year, the Hurricanes are still trying to work out which of Willie Ripia or Jimmy Gopperth is their best bet and the Blues' alternative, Isa Nacewa, is neither available for the All Blacks nor sticking around anyway.

Evans, who admitted that his early declaration of intentions could harm his chances of All Black selection come June 1, reckons there's no need to panic. But that's easy for him to say when he's heading to The Stoop to play his footy. (As an aside one mischievous reporter tested Evans' knowledge of his new home ground this week and nearly found him out. "Just next to Twickenham, nice neighbourhood from what I hear," he answered.)

Added Evans: "This happened when Mehrts and Carlos went overseas, and it wasn't long before Dan Carter, the best in the world, stepped up and took their position. There's some outstanding talent in this country.

"I'm sure over the next number of years they'll come up and fill those positions."

But even Evans had to admit that the succession plan at the Blues had been caught a little short.

He mentioned the name of Lachie Munro, who's unproven, but had to admit it could be a case of the Blues filling the spot from outside. "There are a lot of good players around the country that can fill those positions. I did the same when Tony Brown left down at the Highlanders. I don't think it will be long before someone comes along and does that up here."

In the meantime All Blacks coach Graham Henry has some thinking to do. Carter looks a certainty to be the All Black No 10, fitness permitting, in the upcoming international season regardless of his intentions beyond 2008.

But what of Evans? Would it not be better to start the grooming process with either Brett or Donald now? Harsh call on Evans maybe, but he is turning his back on the black jersey. No one owes him anything in New Zealand rugby.

If Brett and/or Donald are to be entrusted with the playmaker's role in the All Blacks for 2009 and beyond, it's imperative that their education is fast-tracked. There's no time like the present to start schooling them up on what it takes to succeed at the highest level.

Evans may well have realised that when he remarked at the Blues training ground on Monday that he could yet leave for his Quins contract earlier than year-end: "I've got a few out-clauses in my contract, and it obviously depends on what happens on June 1."

That's when the All Blacks squad for 2008 will be named. When we will see just who's being groomed as the first five of the new era. These are both calamitous and exciting times.