Anendra Singh: Extending old-timers' contracts is myopic

Dan Carter

The shape of the ball is different but that doesn't mean opposing codes can't learn lessons from it.

Defending champions Spain had a humbling experience in their unmemorable exit from the Fifa World Cup in Brazil last week.

Why did they lose?

The conspiracy theorists will tell you on the website it has something to do with a "satanic cult" called Iluminati.

Okay, that sounds ludicrous.

Another theory is that they strayed from their "tiki taka" possession-based game of short, crisp passing.

Also on the plausible side of the ledger is that too many Spaniards were long in the tooth.

They were the seventh oldest of the 32 teams competing at the cup.

The top seeds' average age was 28 but they lost 5-1 to the Netherlands and 2-0 to Chile, both considerably younger teams and ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, in the world.

With age comes experience, no arguments there.

But also with it comes a degree of sluggishness and niggly injuries.

Were the Spaniards also guilty of doing what the All Blacks have done over countless years?

That is, showing a sense of misguided loyalty to players when everything suggests they are over the hill.

Sure they brought all the warm fuzzies to Spain but the pragmatic will ask if they were capable of doing it again.

Rugby, it seems, can be equally culpable.

Rushing Dan Carter back into the Crusaders equation smacks of desperation.

I said it was admirable of New Zealand Rugby Union to show Carter and captain Richie McCaw loyalty but extending their lucrative three-year contracts pre-2011 to carry on was myopic.

Sure, give them ambassadorial roles to continue their stellar careers but that money would have been better spent on promising players for the Rugby World Cup in England next year.

Carter and McCaw have since broken down with regular consistency.

All the diplomacy about resting them from hectic schedules doesn't disguise the fact that they aren't up to the hectic demands of international football.

Having lost 16-9 to the Hurricanes at the Cake Tin last Saturday, it must be desperate times for Todd Blackadder and his Crusaders in their Super Rugby campaign despite enjoying the roost as the best-placed Kiwi franchise on the table, albeit by a point from the Highlanders.

Frankly Carter's mediocre 27 minutes on the paddock last Saturday doesn't warrant a start.

Concussions and injuries across the field, including Hawke's Bay Magpie utility back Israel Dagg, doesn't help Blackadder's cause but the pressure to win against the Blues this weekend remains.

For the record, Dagg will need something special out of the hat to regain his All Black fullback berth from Highlanders utility Ben Smith and everyone knows he's capable of that.

If anything, that's perhaps the catalyst the former Lindisfarne College student needs after he recuperates but then I digress.

Even bringing back No8 Kieran Read, recovering from concussion, will draw criticism from those worried about the health of players.

The Crusaders coach doesn't have to look too far across at the Highlanders to realise how counterpart Jamie Joseph has moulded a bunch of predominantly non-stars within a year to make them easily the most attractive of Kiwi franchises.

That endorsement also comes with an extension of Joseph's Super Rugby contract.

Should Blackadder stick to his guns and trust his less savvy players or should he give in to the demands of relying on Carter's boot to see them through to the playoffs?

In the denomination of rugby, penalties and conversions will always project a sense of false economy.

As the All Blacks of yesteryear discovered, it was all good Grant Fox kept them as World No1 but the reality was the rest of the key nations had closed the gulf in standards.

Carter's boot will only be a temporary solution while his other facets of play will be exposed.

Thankfully All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has had the foresight to keep injecting fresh blood into his matrix over the past year. The depth in all positions, bar perhaps hookers, looks promising. That, my friends, is simply a case of belonging to the cult of common sense while looking at the bigger picture.