No dickheads policy helps ABs' bolter, and Blackadder didn't like rugby
PLUS: Flem lends a gold-plated hand and Ma'a on a horse!
It was one of those pregnant pauses in the sporting calendar, when the winter season wash-up has faded from view and the big stuff around the corner remains tantalisingly out of reach - just like the top of the hedges you promised to trim.
After talking to a fellow sportsophile this morning, it seems there are many of us out there annually disoriented by this lull. It’s almost Pavlovian - I’m so used to pushing a couple of buttons on my remote (or phone) and getting an unwieldy amount of top-drawer sports content thrown at me, that when it’s missing it can be the source of great confusion.
With that in mind, there won’t be thousands of words spent here picking up the pieces of a lost sporting weekend, but there were still some arresting hop-on, hop-off type of sights.
THE All Blacks are a week away from playing the USA in Washington, which should be a fascinating event if nothing else.
The most interesting selection for the tour was lock Josh Lord, a true bolter in the Karl Tu’inukuafe sense. It was intriguing to read in the Herald why he got the nod ahead of Pari Pari Parkinson, for example ($).
It’s paywalled, but my eyebrow was raised when I read this (the emphasis is mine).
“Parkinson has physically manhandled opponents to stand out during this year’s NPC but he’s struggled to string consistent games together in his career and, therefore, battled to compile a compelling body of work after regularly breaking down.
“The other issue comes around something of a boozy culture among sections of players in the Highlanders during the past few years that has seen several players – five this year following a party at Josh Ioane’s house - reprimanded for off-field incidents.
“In these... instances, lad culture has failed to recognise it’s not enough to perform on the field. Off field expectations must also align, particularly when pursuing higher honours.
“Prior to naming their Rugby Championship squad - and approaching a 14-week tour like no other - the All Blacks set out their stool that off-field character would have elevated importance…”
It’s Ian Foster’s team and if he wants certain players and doesn’t want others, that’s up to him and his selectors, but I do get a little uncomfortable at how inconsistently the “no-dickheads policy”, and this would appear to fall loosely under that banner, is applied. Anyway, if Parkinson didn’t get the message before, it’s come through loud and clear now.
ALONG with Jordie Barrett, the All Black who has made the biggest strides this year has been Ethan Blackadder. Along with Barrett, he has some serious rugby pedigree. In complete contrast to Barrett, he had little interest in utilising it, as per this interview with Stuff’s Marc Hinton.
“I didn’t really enjoy the game at school. My first year out of school, I played a bit of senior B footy [in Nelson] with a couple of good mates. I started enjoying the game and it all stemmed from there. I wanted to play senior A, and it was just small leaps. Then I started loving the game and I guess that’s what made me thrive.
“For me as a kid it wasn’t actually a dream to be an All Black... never was. It was a late-teenage desire. I wasn’t going to play if I didn’t enjoy it, but once that kicked in it became addictive.
“Toddy [father Todd Blackadder] did what he did... I was just into other stuff. I’m a bit of an outdoorsman and at the time wasn’t too fussed about footy. There was never any pressure, and I think it was really good for me.”
Not only do these quotes reveal something about the 26 year old who is well on his way to establishing himself in the All Black set up, it is another pinprick in the balloon of those who believe the way to make it in the sport is by getting a scholarship to a “rugby” school.
The way to make it is, as Blackadder can attest, is the way that suits you best and it boggles the mind to think of how many more late-maturing rugby stars there might have been who were chewed up and spat out by the obsession with 1st XV footy.
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AFTER a flurry last month when The Bounce revealed the short and tortured history of the private equity negotiations between New Zealand Rugby and the Players, and the NZ Herald’s Liam Napier broke the news of a dramatically reshaped Silver Lake bid ($), things have again gone quiet in that space.
On Saturday, Trevor McKewen delved into the issue ($) in Business Desk, and put some valuable context around why Silver Lake continue to be so keen to invest in NZR, even in the face of hostile reaction from the Players’ Association, high-profile former players and even venerable actor Sam Neill.
“It will still take some time to heal the trust with both the players and the public after it was savaged by the negotiations which were not helped by unnecessary lecturing from some of NZR’s hard heads, and a far from transparent process,” writes McKewen.
“The ‘we know better’ attitude soured key powerbrokers and fans as did the kowtowing of the country’s provincial unions who, for a $39m pay-off, meekly signed off on the first deal.
“To be fair, none of this was Silver Lake’s doing. It’s a minor surprise their execs didn’t run a mile after the initial backlash. Despite rugby presenting far more complexity and challenges than other sports PE is dipping its toes into, it has hung in there.
“Insiders say this is because Silver Lake genuinely believe there are 100 million potential All Blacks fans around the globe – and it knows how to reach them in a way that will unlock the millions needed to keep the men in black on top of the world while also delivering a tasty profit to the PE company.”
There is another point to be made here that has been alluded to in the past but rarely stated baldly. The rugby calendar is an unholy, farcical mess that World Rugby have been unable to rectify because of the self-interest of its member boards. With CVC, a Luxembourg-based PE firm, having significant investment in European and South African rugby, Silver Lake poised to enter in New Zealand and Australia, and Dentsu having a massive footprint in Japan, it is hoped that the corporates might be able to achieve the necessary streamlining that the traditional administrative machinery has failed so badly at.
In a tantalising scenario, resources are pooled and leveraged to create a calendar that includes a world club challenge and all international rugby has context, not the anachronistic situation you have now where the All Blacks fill northern hemisphere stadia in November for little reward other than reciprocal visits in the unloved June window.
There are of course obstacles to meaningful change, namely an unwillingness of World Rugby to cede power and fan reaction to something new - the classic example being football’s misguided and aborted Super League - but the major difference here is rugby’s structure is genuinely broken.
Whatever the case, the spectre of private equity remains the most intriguing landmark on rugby’s landscape - 2022 is shaping as a watershed year for the sport.
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THE World T20 started this morning, though the real action doesn’t start until the October 23 clash between Australia and South Africa.
Already there has been a big surprise in the preliminary action, with Scotland tipping over Bangladesh in a Group B match in Oman. This could have an impact on New Zealand’s tournament as the winner of Group B enters New Zealand’s side of the draw. Having recently been beaten by Bangladesh in a series in Asian conditions (admittedly a vastly weaker Black Caps side), the prospect of facing Scotland will no doubt be more appealing.
Of more immediate interest to New Zealand fans was the conclusion of the IPL, where Stephen Fleming’s Chennai Super Kings comfortably accounted for Brendon McCullum’s Kolkata Knight Riders. The game remained close at the three-quarter pole, with KKR none down for 90 chasing 193, but their troublesome middle-order, led by skipper Eoin Morgan, failed miserably again.
Fleming has joined the Black Caps pre-tournament camp for a few days and it’s an interesting dichotomy - the most successful IPL coach in history and presumably best-paid coach, slumming it with the salarymen coaches of NZC.
“I’m doing five days now pre-World Cup and talk about the conditions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi which we’ve been playing in, and also cast an eye over and get some ideas back from him [Gary Stead]. I’m very proud to get the Black Caps kit back on as well.”
New Zealand is developing deep coaching resources, with Fleming, McCullum, Mike Hesson, Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori in demand across a range of T20 tournaments. It is almost to the point now where only masochists would take on the grind of coaching internationally ahead of franchise cricket.
The Bounce will delve into the Black Caps prospects on Friday, ahead of their opening match against Pakistan - who are not big fans of New Zealand Cricket these days - next week.
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TARANAKI again highlighted the pressing need for NZR to abandon it’s split-division national provincial championship.
The amber-and-blacks can lay claim to being the best provincial team in the country, yet have neither recourse to playing for the title, nor even for promotion to the Premiership.
Taranaki beat Waikato 33-36 in the weekend, meaning they beat all four teams they met in the Premiership division. While it should be noted that it is their own fault they’re playing in the Championship in the first place, it is bizarre that the sum total of their efforts will be a Clayton’s trophy, a booby prize, professional rugby’s version of “Most Improved Player”.
There are all sorts of issues around the NPC, but returning to a single-division tournament in 2022 should be an easy fix.
PIC OF THE WEEKEND
I cannot think of anything the world needs more than a pic of Ma’a Nonu on a horse right now…
PR***S OF THE WEEKEND
… And anything the world needs less of than a North Shore house party hosted by “influencers”.
VID OF THE WEEKEND
The look of sheer, unadulterated joy on the fans’ faces at about the 1m 30s mark makes you realise why you fell in love with sport in the first place. Mo Salah’s goal against Manchester City a fortnight ago might have meant more, but this stunner against Watford loses little in comparison.
Another cracker of an email. Loved the video link. And the horse!