Availability of stars a global issue
Is PE investment already looking sickly? PLUS: The Weekend That Was and the Weekend That Will BE
There has been a lot of understandable angst about the availability of All Blacks in Super Rugby, which culminated in some fairly damning reviews of the Hurricanes’ decision to rest Tyrel Lomax, Jordie Barrett and Ardie Savea from last week’s blockbuster-that-never-arrived against the Chiefs.
(The weather spoiled the occasion as much as the selections and the game would have been just as entertaining if both coaches had picked starting lineups made up entirely of blindside flankers, but that’s by the by.)
Cue a bunch of talk and words from laptops such as this one about the clubs needing more agency over Super Rugby decision-making, like in the big-money European competitions, for example.
So, there’s this headline from the UK today…
“Revealed: Top England players started less than 40% of Premiership games.”
The top two paragraphs outline the issue and highlight how volume is an issue that no rugby administration has been able to grasp (emphasis is mine).
Frontline England players started less than 40% of their clubs’ regular season Premiership matches in the 2022-23 campaign, the Guardian can reveal, exposing the full extent of one of the domestic game’s biggest problems.
The 10 players who featured in eight or nine of England’s nine matchday squads this season made a combined total of 79 starts in the Premiership out of a possible 203, which equates to 39%. The England captain, Owen Farrell, made the most (11) while Jack van Poortvliet made the least (four). The average across the 10 – the others being Freddie Steward, Henry Slade, Marcus Smith, Ellis Genge, Kyle Sinckler, Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Maro Itoje – was 7.9 matches.
It is illustrative that this is not just a Super Rugby problem. There is only so much rugby - especially the type of carry-and-collide game played today - that athletes, even the fittest and most elite, can play. Once the tests and Champions Cup is played, there is not enough left in the tank to slum it in the Premiership.
Once feared as a competition that could rip the guts out of the southern hemisphere talent factories - think Charlie Piutau and Malakai Fekitoa to Wasps at the peak of their powers - and force a change in the New Zealand Rugby contracting model, the Premiership now it stands as a cautionary tale.
Wasps and Worcester were placed into administration and removed from the Premiership, while the fate of London Irish hangs in the balance.
Last month it was also announced that the Premierships losses had doubled to £36m and the clubs are asking, “So what exactly has CVC done for us?”, as the Luxembourg-based private equity fund has a 27 percent stake in the competition.
Bristol Bears owner Steve Lansdowne has gone public with his disappointment over the impact CVC has had on the sport ($).
Which leads me neatly to the most portentous sports reporting of the week, with Trevor McKewen using maths and a fair dollop of logic in Business Desk ($) to ask serious questions around New Zealand Rugby’s deal with Silver Lake, the most pertinent being: Is all well at CommCo - the revenue-generating JV between Silver Lake and NZR - following the abrupt departure of chief executive Richard Thomas? And was the deal ever needed at all?
Writes McKewen:
A business with the resources of NZR should have been able to address [their] limitations themselves and employ capable and experienced executives to deliver without private equity help.
But I see no evidence of that to date and the departure of Thomas just adds to the concern. All of the union’s recent deals (the Adidas kit renewal and predicted Nations Cup broadcasting windfall) could have been completed without Silver Lake assistance.
Unless the Americans genuinely come to the party with the significant revenue lifts they boasted they can bring through tech, data, content and merchandising innovations, it’s all sounding like hot air.
And NZR is looking increasingly exposed as we see up to 8 percent of revenue walking out the door for little to no apparent return.
While it is early doors, McKewen is right to raise concerns and it also brings to mind what one big rugby off-field player said to me recently: “If the man around the bar leaner cannot see any obvious impact of Silver Lake on the game he loves within a couple of years, the deal will be forever looked upon as a waste of time and money.”
THE WEEK THAT WAS
As a rule, I’m not a massive fan of the Q&A, although I have used the genre myself. My preference is for the trained journalist/observer to be a storyteller rather than a transcriber.
Q&As work on TV when you can see the tics and the emotions of the subject and can get a sense of the skill (or otherwise) of the interviewer, whereas in print or digital publishing they can come across as flat and one-dimensional.
Occasionally, however, they hit the mark, like Chris Rattue’s chat with Michael Hendry, the golfer recently diagnosed with leukaemia. It’s behind the Herald’s paywall and it is “premium” content, so I’m not going to rip it off, but here’s a little taste.
Q: How tough is the treatment?
A: I was carrying a bit of weight anyway but I went from 102kg to 89kg, like I was melting every day. The chemicals are basically poisoning you - there’s a lot of diarrhoea. There were days I would struggle to muster the strength to walk five metres to the bathroom.
The ward is full of patients and you get to know them and their stories. I came to realise that even though I was a very sick man five or six weeks ago, I wasn’t the sickest on the ward.
It’s pretty hard to dislike anything about the move to appoint Wayne Smith as performance coach across the All Blacks and Black Ferns.
Smith said he intends to push his students to continue challenging norms and encourage them to think outside the box, much like he did with introducing the attacking style of rugby that helped the Black Ferns overcome England in last year’s World Cup final.
“It’s important to consider different perspectives and solutions as coaches,” he said.
It will be interesting to see if he and Jason Ryan can find common ground on the value and aesthetics of the lineout drive.
The red-and-black rugby lord giveth, he taketh away.
In two highly anticipated moves, Leicester Fainga’anuku will leave for France at the end of this year, while blockbusting Moana Pasifika midfielder Levi Aumua will head south.
“In my career I have been lucky enough to play all over the world, but in recent times my desire to try play for the All Blacks has intensified. At the end of last year, I got a small taste with the All Blacks XV which only strengthened my hunger to play for the All Blacks,” Aumua said in a statement. “With this in mind, I have decided to commit myself to the Crusaders for the next two years - a group I know well from my time with the Tasman Mako.”
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
Just a couple of things I’ll try to plonk myself down in front of (though not all of it will be live).
Just as I was looking forward to a stress-free weekend without the Warriors, now I am gagging for them to return. It will be a sellout at McLean Park and a homecoming for captain Tohu Harris. The Ngāti Kahungunu star grew up next door to the Waipatu Marae near Hastings.
NZ Warriors v Brisbane Broncos, Napier, tomorrow 7.30pm, Sky Sport 4
There are a few intriguing Super Rugby storylines this weekend, starting with the Aaron Smith (in his last home game) and the Highlanders attempting to take the side door to the playoffs, starting with the Reds tonight in Dunedin. There is also the return of lock Sam Whitelock for the Crusaders against the Waratahs in an afternoon kickoff tomorrow, but most eyes, if they can lock on just one game, will surely choose the higher-strength Hurricanes against the Barrett-less Blues (and yes, I will have to watch this one on delay).
Blues v Hurricanes, Auckland, tomorrow 7.05pm, Sky Sport 1
Stephen Fleming and Devon Conway’s Chennai Super Kings are in the final of the IPL. Regardless of whether they face the tournament’s most popular team, the Mumbai Indians, or home team the Gujarat Titans, it is expected they will play to a sellout, more than 120,000 spectators, at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. It will be an occasion.
Chennai v Gujarat or Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Monday 2am, Sky Sport 3
Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin at The Brickyard. The Great Race etc etc. One thing I'm not sure McLaughlin expected was to become embroiled in a simmering milk row.
Indy 500, Indianapolis, Monday 4.45am, Sky Sport 5
Celtics’ bulldog point guard Marcus Smart said, on the eve of Game 4 against the dominant Miami Heat, “Just don’t let us win one, that’s all I’m going to say.” For those of us who arbitrarily decided from a young age that they were part of the Boston sports milieu, the quote was instantly recognisable: Red Sox down 0-3, Game 4 versus the Yankees about to start at Fenway Park, Kevin Millar talking to a Boston Globe reporter who had called them a pack of frauds.
Miami did “let” them win one, then Boston went home and won two. Back in Miami, the series is well and truly back on the line. Don’t let them win three…
Miami Heat v Boston Celtics, Miami, Sunday 12.30pm, ESPN
The Premier League has limped to the finish, with a dominant Manchester City leaving the top end of the table without suspense. At the other end, however, it’s a different story. Three into one won’t go. Keep an eye out for Everton (33 points), Leicester (31) and Leeds (31) who are all trying to join Southampton in the Championship next season. They are all at home on the final day to Bournemouth, Tottenham and West Ham respectively. The games kickoff at 3.30am Monday. Steven Alker (-2) has made a solid start to the Senior PGA Championships at Frisco, Texas. It can be found over the weekend on Sky’s pop-up channel. There is also the Monaco GP, which is full of glitz and glamour but is invariably deathly dull on the track. The French Open at Roland Garros starts this weekend.
Ahh the french open. As you've said before the timing of it sucks for us but this could be an interesting grand slam. The new kid Alcaraz taking over from Nadal? Joko trying to get that elusive win to go ahead of Nadal, many other sub plots. Here's hoping Michael Venus can bring home another doubles slam, although his form has been patchy.
Interesting about English rugby players and there rest vs play. Its seen in the English club football too isn't it, with players rested depending on what trophy is being played for? No solutions from me but intriguing all the same.