With friends like these...

NZR's 'interesting' bedfellows, a CTE story, Ish is ditched and a few bits and pieces.

Richard Gosselin/ Panoramic (via Photosport)

An interesting column from Business Desk towards the end of last week ($). Trevor McKewen has joined the dots between the Manchester City scandal and New Zealand Rugby.

The Premier League this month charged City with more than 100 alleged breaches of financial regulations, which has cast a large shadow over not only their future but their stunning run of success under Sheikh Mansour.

However, while the Emirati is the principal owner, he’s not the only one with a significant stake in the club.

Writes McKewen: 

The US private equity group Silver Lake – yes, those same fellows who now own 8% of NZ Rugby and the All Blacks – are the second-biggest owners.

Nor is it a small stake.

Silver Lake owns 14.54% of City Football Group (CFG), which not only owns Manchester City but also 10 other football clubs including New York FC, Melbourne City FC and Mumbai City FC. Co-chief executive Egon Durban is on the club’s board.

It was Durban who persuaded Silver Lake to invest in City after meeting Khaldoon [Al Mubarak, an Emirati Government official and business leader] in early 2019. Despite the Uefa feud raging at the time and no doubt aware of the Premier League probe as well, Silver Lake agreed to pay US$500m (NZ$799m) for a 10% stake in CFG.

McKewen notes that Silver Lake upped its stake in CFG after it “almost certainly” knew about the probe into its financial affairs.

You might say that tarring NZR with Manchester City’s brush because they share a minority investor is unfair, but the author also points out that it is really just the culmination of several questionable commercial partnership and sponsorship decisions made by the leaders of our national sport.

As it stands right now, NZR and the All Blacks currently hold major partnerships with:

• A private equity fund that is the second-biggest owner in an EPL club at the centre of the biggest football scandal in years;

• A French manufacturing colossus in All Blacks jersey sponsor Altrad whose founder and owner (pictured above) is facing jail after being found guilty of rugby-related corruption charges by the Paris criminal court last year;

• One of the world’s biggest global polluters is British petroleum giant Ineos, whose logo is also all over the All Blacks and world champion Black Ferns.

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NZR also found itself in the firing line yesterday, when Sunday carried a powerful story about the first New Zealand rugby player to be diagnosed with CTE.

The piece was at its strongest when telling the story of Justin Jennings, a community and rep player from the Eastern Bay who wound up playing in North America before becoming a tennis coach in the US.

The second half of the piece had NZR in its crosshairs but the whole “bad guy in the story” thing felt slightly off centre.

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I’ve said all I needed to say about the first test in my Notes from the (Bay) Oval ($) series, but here Andrew Alderson and I wrap up that limp half day and look ahead to the Basin.

Alderson was advocating for Ish Sodhi to play in Wellington, but since then he and Jacob Duffy have been released from the squad as Matt Henry returns. We also pondered whether there is any point in day-night tests.

Subscriber Dennis Quirke is unequivocal:

I don’t see the point of pink ball day night test matches. It’s the middle of summer just play the game in the day FFS. And don't tell me it’s because of viewing numbers that’s just b/s. Not making that an excuse for NZ’s poor batting. Playing at night is one of the reasons I have lost interest in rugby. 

A Warriors diehard writes

I was at the cricket all weekend so didn’t get the opportunity to watch the Warriors trial match. Luckily one of The Bounce’s early adopters, who goes by the moniker “Diehard”, had no such impediments. Here’s his take on yesterday’s 6-24 loss to the Melbourne Storm in Christchurch.

Photosport/ John Davidson

Like all diehard fans, I looked forward to the Warriors pre-season matches to gauge what the latest team had to offer and how the new signings would help our fortunes.

Yesterday, against a perennial adversary and a yardstick, I’m afraid to say I’m not filled with excitement. Much positive chat about Andrew “Webby” Webster and the pre-season training basically came to nothing as the Penrose Posse showed few signs of teamwork and eventually sputtered to a comprehensive defeat by a Melbourne outfit who, themselves, were ordinary. I didn’t really care about the score (lie) but I was looking for combinations, attack strategy and ideas on best using our assets.

I saw little.

They defended well for 50 minutes but then faded in their usual fashion. Again, there was a distinct lack of intensity and energy that is the trademark of champion teams.

The most disappointing thing was they were boring! The Warriors of old may have lost more matches than won but they were exciting to watch and their offloads and support play was some of the best in the NRL.

Notables:

• If this is Shaun’s last year, then wouldn’t you think he would be pulling out all stops to leave a legacy? Perhaps they’ve all been pulled;

• Every serious NRL contender has to have an exceptional fullback. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is not;

• Mitch Barnett is an edge player, not a prop;

• Ronald Volkman is not first grade;

• We only have one class prop, Addin Fonua-Blake (pictured), and he must be running out of faith;

• Two penalty kicks that don’t find touch is just not on;

Gosh, this is a miserable read.

• Luke Metcalfe and Te Maire Martin are our halves;

• Marata Niukore is very good but where will they play him?;

• I like the new kid, Jackson Ford, and Villiami Vailea is a potential star (there’s a crude but very funny joke about the difference between potential and reality).

Ed: Email me the joke, Diehard, I don’t believe I’ve heard it!

Elsewhere, the New Zealand Herald was more optimistic following the trial loss.

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The Breakers dispatched the venous ants from Tasmania to set up a final with Sydney’s basketball royalty.

Don’t go exciting checking your TV Guide for times just yet though as there’s a 12-day break until Game 1.

There’s been a lot of talk about the “staggering” turnaround in fortunes for the club, from last place and a 5-23 record  to a grand final, but what does it say about the Australian NBL, or perhaps about basketball in general, that you can in effect bring in an entirely new squad and be instantly successful?

I truly don’t know the answer to that question I just posed and I’m sure Breakers fans don’t really care.

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In a bit of Arabian Golf news, Lydia Ko won there…

lydsko

A post shared by Lydia (보경) Ko (@lydsko)

… and Danny Lee is set to take the money from there, but not before wowing onlookers by turning up at a municipal driving range to work out some stuff after struggling at his latest and potentially one of his last PGA stops at Riviera.

No disrespect to Lee - well, perhaps a little - but if he’s a big-ticket signing, LIV Golf is going to continue to struggle to get cut-through.