No this question is not for Frans Steyn. It is for teams like the Crusaders and it might even apply to others right here in South Africa.
Has the New Zealand Rugby Union opened a can of worms with its Super 15 selection policy, and are the Crusaders getting greedy?
Most franchises would count themselves lucky to have Sonny Bill Williams’ signature. But now the Crusaders have poached exciting young All Blacks back Israel Dagg and are also flirting with the Highlanders’ All Black backrower Adam Thomson.
A Super rugby player has effectively become a stateless person. Dagg hails from Hawke’s Bay and continues to play national provincial championship rugby for the Magpies. Yet he got his Super rugby break with the Highlanders and is now headed to the Crusaders to join Magpies mate Zac Guildford, last year’s capture from Hurricanes country.
Thomson grew up in Ashburton and played for Christchurch Boys’ High School’s first XV. But he has, to all intents and purposes, been developed in Dunedin where he’s been for a decade.
He made the All Blacks from Otago and he owes new Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph at least one season to see if the former All Black hardman can turn the ailing franchise around.
Thomson is a fantastic flanker but the Crusaders hardly need him. Granted, with Kieran Read now focusing on No8, they don’t have a specialist No6, as such. But they already have an all-All Blacks backrow in Read, Richie McCaw and George Whitelock with the latter two adept at playing the left-right flankers system. Moreover, the Crusaders have cover in Jonathan Poff, Matt Todd, Nasi Manu and Brendan O’Connor.
Dagg does appeal as a likely long-term replacement for the Crusaders’ greatest fullback, Leon MacDonald. But, again, shouldn’t he have stayed with the Highlanders as a key plank in their rebuilding phase?
Having appointed Joseph, a legendary figure in the great Otago teams of the early 1990s, shouldn’t the NZRU do him a favour and freeze all transfers of contracted players from the Highlanders?
It does, however, make perfect sense for Colin Slade to head south to the Highlanders if he wants a shot at making the World Cup squad. He can hardly stake a claim to be Dan Carter’s test backup at first five-eighth if he remains his understudy at the Crusaders.
Isaac Ross must also be destined to head elsewhere given the locking logjam at the Crusaders and would it not be better for Wyatt Crockett to make the move too to boost his chances of making the World Cup cut?
The Crusaders can’t complain about players being poached by other franchises. They have had a charmed life at Super rugby draft time for years. Robbie Deans somehow managed to keep two of the best fullbacks in the country in Leon MacDonald and Ben Blair by claiming Blair was also a backup wing.
We all know rugby is a 22-man game these days, but that shouldn’t mean the Crusaders get to keep 22 All Blacks.
The NZRU now allows players to effectively sign for a particular provincial union but pledge their Super 15 allegiance to a franchise outside their home base. Is it little wonder, then, that there appears to be more fan fervour for Ranfurly Shield and NPC matches than Super rugby games.
Strange decisions seem to abound in the Super rugby arena. It still boggles the mind that Mark Hammett was allowed to remain as Crusaders’ assistant coach after accepting the Hurricanes’ 2011 head coaching job early in the 2010 season. It wouldn’t have happened in most professional codes.
Which begs one last question.
If player movement between franchises continues to escalate, are the chief clipboard carriers still coaches or man-managers? How much coaching would a Crusaders’ forward coach have to do with a backrow boasting McCaw, Read and Thomson? Not as much as Jamie Joseph down south with a nap hand of raw recruits.
Superbul, this is happening in every country, just look at South Africa, how many players have been developed in the Freestate but are playing for mainly the Sharks.
The Bulls had Habana, now the Stormers have him.
Jaque Fourie has moved to the Stormers.
The only star player of SA I can think of that is 100% loyal is Juan Smith, he has remained with the Cheetahs ever since he started.
It is a natural progression for these players, as soon as they make a name for themselves they move to a team that has better chance of winning trophies, and we know that you need to be in those teams to make an impression on the Springbok selectors.
Look at Jano Vermaak, Doppies le Grange, they won’t ever get a look in whilst they are playing for the Lions.
Why do you think all these guys are moving either to the Bull, Stormers or Sharks?
@ biltongbek:
Help me out , i can not really think of a Bok bought by the Bulls in his prime. They all come as talented but mostly as unknowns here.
What i agree with in the article above is this
“We all know rugby is a 22-man game these days, but that shouldn’t mean the Crusaders get to keep 22 All Blacks”
This is also applicable to the Bulls, there is too many good players who does not get enough playtime. But then again like biltongbek said so many want to stay in a winning culture because they know they will be spotted. Who do you send away and who not.
Bulls gave the Sharks a lock but we were worried he could be lost forever.
agree Biltong, and welcome to the world of professional rugby… what chance someday Saders or Bulls thought of like AC Milan for example..
its all about the brand
biltongbek wrote:
This article is to show that the draft system in NZ is now under thread. I know in SA you buy what you need. Some players are more loyal than others. The Bulls winning culture saves us from too many leaving us.
@ superBul:
Only one I can think of was Bryan Habana. He left the Lions to go to the Bulls.
What about Wickus van Heerden, I seem to remember he left the Lios at one stage, where did he go to?
@ biltongbek:
Habana was made a man at the Bulls, he was good thats why we bought him, but in all honesty he made his mark at the Bulls.
Wikus was very good but he came almost on his own , he was desperate for some winning and that was his best career move. From that day his Bok life was resurrected.
This article holds no creedance in my opinion.
Rugby Union is a professional sport these days.
Players move for money. Period. To say that any player moves for “a winning culture is just BS. He moves for greater exoposure in order to MAKE MORE MONEY further down the line.
Unions that continually loose quality players due to either poor performances robbing that player of the chance to play at a higher level, or through poor contracing practices are just un-professional.
The days of a player staying at a Union through “loyalty” are basically gone, & all in all, it boils down to the money.
Let’s take “Baywatch” as an example, Lions fans will tell you he is a loyal Lion, with no intention of moving. Without being too critical, where could he move in SA and expect to:- a) get more money, or b) get more game time as a loose forward?
So in reality, IMO he stays at the Lions because it is the best “package” that he can expect in the current climate.
By the way, I’m not trying to have a go at Baywatch here, merely using him as an example.)
It’s a professional sport people. Success breeds success, and success attracts the giggets sponsors / investors / players.
If a player moves for more money and a better future I say “good luck”, the playing career is short enough, and the consequences in later life due to injuries etc well documented.
Oh, and let’s not forget the role of players’ agents in the whole player movement culture! Another can of smelly worms altogether.
10@ Scrumdown:
“giggets sponsors” should read BIGGEST sponsors. Monday morning!
Strange policies the NZ’ers follow.
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