Rugby World UK – August 2019

END OF AN ERA
Steve Tew will step
down as NZ Rugby’s
CEO at the end of
2019 after 12 years.

CONTRACT CHANGE
SA Rugby will no
longer centrally

contract Springboks,

as it has done since

the game went pro.

Provincial unions will

now hold player deals

and they have agreed

to a wage cap.

FRENCH RULE

Toulouse (right) beat

Clermont Auvergne

24-18 in the Top 14

fi nal to lift the Bouclier

de Brennus for the

20th time. Meet three

of their stars: P60-64.

CLUB SWITCH

Christian Leali’ifano is

leaving the Brumbies

after 12 years to join

NTT Communications

Shining Arcs in Japan.

ROG RETURN

Ronan O’Gara will be

back in the Top 14 next

season. He is leaving

Crusaders to become

head coach in Jono

Gibbes’s back-room

team at La Rochelle.

SEVENS HOME

Franklin’s Gardens will

stage the Premiership

Rugby Sevens on 13-14

September. Early-bird

tickets are £16 adults/

£6 juniors for the two

days. See northampton

saints.co.uk for details.

PICS

Getty Images

sure to make similar demands. Salaries

in France, England and Japan will always

dwarf those in New Zealand. The theory

is that without off ering sabbaticals, these

players would be lost for good. Yet there

is an erosion of depth and experience.

The other issue is what state the likes

of Retallick and Whitelock will return in.

Sure, topping up bank balances abroad

ensures their presence for RWC 2023.

And the rugby in Japan is much more

forgiving than in Europe or NZ derbies.

HEN IS a three-year deal
not a three-year deal?
Well, when the duration
is actually half that time.
Sports organisations
are among the best public relations
spinners in the game. Take NZ Rugby’s
announcement that Brodie Retallick had
inked a new “three-year agreement” at
face value and All Blacks fans would
have headed to the pub to celebrate.
Read the fi ner details, though, and
the truth is Retallick will be lost to the
Chiefs and Super Rugby for the next
two seasons. After the World Cup he
will remain in Japan and not return to
New Zealand until May 2021. That rules
him out of the entire 2020 All Blacks
season. Devil in the details, indeed.
Sam Whitelock, widely expected to be
the next All Blacks captain, has a similar
arrangement in
his new four-year
deal. He will skip
Super Rugby next
year but play in
the July Tests –
NZ Rugby bending
their rules to suit the leading players.
Beauden Barrett will be next. He is
negotiating a sabbatical clause that is
expected to see him miss Super Rugby
and possibly Internationals in 2020.
So NZ Rugby’s three best players will
be absent for extended periods next
year. Not only does that signifi cantly
weaken their respective teams but it
damages Super Rugby as a whole.
This contracting fl exibility has the
potential to get out of hand, with others

But there are

clear dangers in

season-hopping.

Handre Pollard is

only now returning

to anywhere near

his best form after playing continuous

rugby in Japan and South Africa.

The New Zealand production line is still

there for now but it is harder and harder

to retain these top guys. If the player

drain continues, I genuinely fear for the

future of southern hemisphere rugby. n

The New Zealand player drain is getting out of hand, bemoans Kiwi writer Liam Napier

HAVE YOUR SAY

What gets your goat? Let us know on

Facebook or tweet @rugbyworldmag

W

On the move

Brodie Retallick will play

two seasons in Japan

THE RUGBY RANT

Front Row

SHORT

PASS

“Sabbaticals not only weaken

players’ respective teams but

damage Super Rugby as a whole”