The dark side of Canterbury to NZ rugby

BY TAINE RANDELL

OPINION: Canterbury's increasing monopoly of New Zealand rugby is hurting our game. I detect a worrying trend of red-and-black influence with players, coaches and administrators.

Sonny Bill Williams' choice to head to Christchurch was an obvious decision for his own development but not one that will help development in a broader sense.

The rationale for him going to Canterbury is the same line that is being trotted out for the impending moves there by Israel Dagg and Adam Thomson – they will improve their play and that has to be good for our game.

But is it? Let's take a deeper look.

Williams arrives and what happens to Ryan Crotty? Of the non-All Blacks in the ITM Cup, Crotty is probably the next best No 12. But he's going to be on the bench for the compeition and most probably the Super 15.

The same goes for Colin Slade. He's a great talent but he's going to be a backup when Dagg arrives.

It's a great scenario for Canterbury and the Crusaders. But for New Zealand rugby? I don't think so.

The spread of talent that was heralded with the arrival of Super rugby seems to be narrowing.

Locks Brad Thorn and Ali Williams are other examples.

Thorn ignores his Otago roots to don red and black. Williams has a bust-up with the Blues and, of all the teams he could have gone to and made a really significant difference with his talent, he went to All Blacks-ladened Crusaders.

It seems Canterbury is now a pathway to All Blacks representation. But going and playing for Canterbury mightn't make you a better player, it might just make it easier for you to achieve your goals.

I think that's very dangerous. Some players have made it from there when I'm sure they would have if they were at other provinces.

And then look at the coaching scenario.

Crusaders assistant Mark Hammett crosses Cook Strait and gets the Hurricanes job. My understanding is that Canterbury coach Rob Penney was the second choice.

I believe Hammett has been appointed ahead of more qualified people from within the Canes own franchise.

The Canterbury influence is great at provincial level but I'm not sure it should be allowed to dominate our game.

Hammett going to the Hurricanes spreads those tentacles even further.

How can this hurt? Well, as an isolated example, mauling has never really been a Canterbury strength and, as a result, I think that has played a large part in how mauling has become a lost art in the New Zealand game.

Take it further, and essentially the All Blacks assistants since 1999 have been through the Canterbury system too.

This isn't so much a crack at Canterbury – they have dominated for the last decade, done their job fantastically well and their level of achievement is what everyone aspires to.

But where it becomes a bit sticky if there appears to be an over-reaching influence at NZRU level to help them.

Is it coincidental that recent chief executives and chairmen at HQ have Canterbury roots?

The danger is that New Zealand rugby is becoming homogenised to one style.

Variety is good and the role of the NZRU should be to take the best parts of our game and apply that to New Zealand and All Blacks rugby.

But with the powerbrokers coming from the same provincial system, I think we are losing that variety in the way we play the game and – that's to our detriment.

IF THE CAP DOESN'T FIT YOU'VE GOT TO GET RID OF IT

There's one stupid ingredient in the new players' collective and that's the salary cap which will operate at provinical level.

It's used to promote an even competition. But it's also a driving force behind our loss of talent.

The NZRU has been spouting on for a long time that we can't compete with the wages being paid overseas.

So their solution to the problem is to bring in a salary cap to pay players less.

Where's the logic in that?

I believe we should be doing as much as we can to pay our payers more so t the money is comparable to what's on offer overseas.

My experience in the UK was that salary caps were there to be broken. Closer to home, you only have to look at the NRL for evidence of that.

A salary cap is all well and good in a sport like American Football that doesn't have a rival competition.

But when you are competing for players in an open market like rugby is, then essentially your salary cap prevents you from being in the same league.

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