Next Man Up...Wait, Where Is He?

Tennis is our immediate concern here at BtC Towers (that, and our impending relocation to The New Beyond the Cliche Towers At Edinburgh. A new age perhaps?). With the successful showings of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray at Roland Garros, plus strong performances from guys like Del Potro who are coming back to their best, this year's Wimbledon looks to be a real cracker. Heck, even Serena Williams is back! Forgive me if I cheer on Wozniacki and Sharapova instead of the terrifying American though.

While I will be covering the upcoming events at the All England Club pretty thoroughly, right now I'm going to bring the spotlight back to the upcoming Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Ok, maybe the spotlight hasn't actually reached this event quite yet. A tournament held in a country literally the world away from us Europeans will always struggle with exposure, and the tragic earthquake earlier this year somewhat dampened the celebratory mood. One feels strongly for Canterbury, which now has no rugby to look forward to. On top of the whole earthquake thing.

A big issue for New Zealand rugby, besides winning the bleeding tournament, is the issue of player retention. We are now in the void between the latter stages of the Super 15 season and the start of the World Cup in September, and already a substantial number of players have signed up with teams in the Northern Hemisphere.

This number is sure to rise after the tournament itself; rugby down South essentially operates on a 4 year cycle, with players packing their bags after the World Cup and unions having the next 4 years to find their replacements. All three of the SANZAR countries operate in this way, for better or worse.



I fear New Zealand might be missing their priorities of late. We can all see the importance of keeping world class players like McCaw and Carter playing at home, but there is a point at which you start to fixate on keeping these players and start to neglect the other blokes on the team. These guys will start leaving, and the worrying thing is that the stars themselves aren't sticking around either.

The Hurricanes are losing Ma'a Nonu for example. But they are also going to be without Tialata, So'oialo, Schwalger and Hore next year. Likewise, the Blues are going to have Luke McAlister (who has been effervescent this year) leave, and so will John Afoa. These two teams are losing both All Black players and blokes who are around the national team setup; maybe they aren't quite the best option in the land, but they're a damn good spine to a team.

Most of the players on a New Zealand Super Rugby team are quality; certainly, they will be better than their equivalent squad member on an English Premiership side. This is as may be, but the Union needs to remember that these players are as finite as the star names. Fine, one or two leaving is manageable, but for entire backlines and scrums to leave as one is a concern.

The fact that Afoa, and men like Matt Berquist of the Crusaders, are being lost to Irish teams has really pissed New Zealanders off. But, frankly, if your players are being poached by a bankrupt Union to freeze their nuts off playing in glamerous Limerick (I was recently in Ireland, and wasn't that impressed. It's just like Britain, but with an undeserved international reputation. in fairness, that reputation means it is crawling with Americans, so swings and roundabouts I guess), you should be wondering why they're all so keen to go.

Plus, history tells us that the big names leaving is not usually much of a concern. Carter went to Perpignan and headed straight back home. Rocky Elsom of Australia became a better player at Leinster, and returned South to captain the Wallabies. Victor Matfield wasn't harmed too much by his spell at Toulon. In light of this, New Zealand have to ask themselves whether Richie McCaw is really worth the hastle if it means he's the only man left on the team.

GM