It is getting close to Six Nations time here in the UK, and one of the more interesting stories that has surfaced is this one about the Welsh RFU telling players that they are unlikely to get selected for the national team unless they play their club rugby in Wales. Setting aside, for the moment, any legal issues that may arise from this, one is tempted to ask “why?” It has been a policy for some years in Australia and New Zealand (and possibly South Africa too) that players are supposed to play their club rugby in the Super 14. Given the expense of maintaining scouting teams on the other side of the planet, I can see why this might be so. But I don’t think that to play for the All Blacks you had to play your club rugby for a New Zealand side, which would be the equivalent rule. Also, having players spread around has advantages. It helps them play in the best quality rugby possible. Forcing players to play for Welsh clubs may mean forcing some of them to miss out on Heineken Cup rugby. And if your players are active in all of the best clubs around Europe you get good intelligence about the potential strengths and weaknesses of the your likely opponents. It all seems a little odd.
Then I started thinking about the excuses that were being trotted out about training and team cohesion and suddenly it all clicked. What the Welsh selectors are mainly worried about is getting access to their players. In Wales the club sides are effectively owned by the WRFU (in much the same way as MLS owns all the major US soccer teams). This is not the case in England (or France, I think). What the WRFU is afraid of is that if their players are contracted to English or French clubs then they may not be able to get access to them when they need them. Heck, even the English national side can’t always get players away from English club sides when it wants them. Suddenly the new policy makes a whole lot of sense.
“But I don’t think that to play for the All Blacks you had to play your club rugby for a New Zealand side, which would be the equivalent rule.”
But that is the case, in practice, if not written in stone. No Super 14 contract = no chance of being an AB.
NZRFU controls the NPC and the central contracts for Super 14 (essentially running it as a draft system, moving players around etc) and if you haven’t got a Super 14 contract you don’t get into the ABs.
Until recently the lure of playing for the ABs was enough to keep people playing in NZ, and then heading north for their retirement funds.
but after the recent world cup there has been an exodus: Hayman, Mauger, Macallister, Jack, etc on the basis that the younger ones can cash in on a lucrative 2 year contract and still be back in the southern hemisphere with two whole seasons to go before the next world cup.
It will be interesting to see what happens…!
Will:
The question I was asking (obviously rather unclearly) was whether to get picked for the All Blacks you had to have a Super 14 contract, or you had to have a Super 14 contract with a New Zealand-based side. Ditto Australians in an Australian side.
As for the exodus, one of the main stumbling blocks to Welsh players sticking in Welsh sides is the competition they face from Kiwi exiles. Man of the match for Cardiff last night: Xavier Rush. Man of the match for the Ospreys today: Justin Marshall. Is Gareth Delve playing for Gloucester because he can get more money in England, or because the likes of Rush and Tia Tia are keeping him out of the Welsh clubs? I cannot for the life of me understand why Mike Phillips moved to the Ospreys.
Sorry, i hadn’t realised that’s what you meant. But i think my point still stands, central contracts are at the heart of the entire NZ structure as everything if focused on success for the ABs.
also i think there is a line in the sand issue here : allowing non-NZ based players to compete for AB places would open the floodgates for massive player movement.
Thanks for mentioning the Cardiff game : yes I am a Quins fan… 🙁 and talking of ex-ABs I wish we’d kept Mehrtens for another season!
Off the top of my head the only guy I can think of who has played in Europe and been in contention for a Tri-Nations side is Percy Montgomery.
allowing non-NZ based players to compete for AB places would open the floodgates for massive player movement
I’m not sure that I buy that. Possibly more so now because of the arrival of The Force, but when there were 5 NZ teams and only 3 in Australia? Where would the Kiwis go? Also they’d be a long way from home.