Crusaders coach Scott Robertson welcomes Pablo Matera from Argentina. Photo / George Heard
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson welcomes Pablo Matera from Argentina. Photo / George Heard
OPINION:
Since rugby turned professional and created international demand for quality players, New Zealand has only ever seen itself as a victim of the globalisation of the labour market.
The talent has flowed out of New Zealand since the late 1990s and that has hardened the resolve of those runningthe game here to adopt the most austere protectionist policies to retain their home-grown talent.
The French, the Japanese, the English and the Irish come shopping in what to them must feel like an Oceania wonderland and take what they want, and because it's almost always the money they offered that seals the deal, it has been all too easy for New Zealand to see itself as a defenceless victim of global economics.
But self-styled victimhood hasn't just intensified New Zealand's desire to stop the best players heading out, it has also created an almost xenophobic desire to stop the rest of the world's best players coming in.
New Zealand Rugby, who directly controlled the recruitment of all players until 2012, have never been open to foreign players looking for a Super Rugby stint.
Between 1996 and 2011 any Super Rugby club wanting a foreign acquisition had to make a compelling case to justify it.
NZR saw foreign recruitment as dangerous as it effectively meant there would be one less contract available to local players.
There was a little more wriggle room for players whose eligibility had been captured by Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Super Rugby clubs were allowed to carry two non-New Zealand-eligible Pacific Island players, but the money available to them was effectively prohibitive to keeping them in the country, as was evidenced in the case of Rupeni Caucaunibuca.
He was sensational for the Blues in 2003 - without doubt the most exciting and watchable player on the planet - but he committed to Fiji after that campaign and that saw NZR freeze his salary at the base level of $75,000 which led to him signing with French club Agen the following year where he was paid a reported $600,000.
In 2012 recruitment was handed directly to the clubs and since then, there has been an increase in the number of foreign players in Super Rugby.
But it has still only been a trickle, mostly because the money hasn't been available to put compelling offers on the table.
Which doesn't make sense, as the few who have made it here, have unquestionably added something to the competition and given Super Rugby just a hint of the exotic.
The Chiefs got extraordinary value out of Canadian captain Tyler Ardron who was a must-pick for them between 2018 and 2020.
The Highlanders used their inside knowledge of the Japanese market to recruit two gems in Fumiaka Tanaka and Kazuki Hemano and this season the Crusaders have been bolstered by the presence of former Pumas captain Pablo Matera.
After a slow start in which he battled to adjust to the pace and style of the New Zealand game, Matera has proven to be a brilliant addition to the Crusaders – carrying the ball with impact and making regular momentum-changing defensive hits.
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson welcomes Pablo Matera from Argentina. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
He's given the competition a sense of glamour that it desperately needs – and more importantly, he's given Super Rugby Pacific an appeal outside of its geographic footprint and if the competition wants to continue to grow its audience, then there has to be a universal realisation that foreign recruitment is an investment rather than a cost.
It feels like the clubs have an appetite to recruit from offshore, but not the means and they need NZR to help them by playing around with the budgets to free up enough cash so as each team has the financial capacity to contract one foreign player per season.
It would be plainly silly for Super Rugby to open its doors and try to recruit foreign talent en masse, but the presence of one marquee player per club – a Matera for everyone – would undoubtedly prove to be a smart economic strategy.
New Zealand has a revered talent production system but as good as it is, it doesn't spit out enough Super Rugby quality players anymore now that squad sizes have expanded to 38.
Most clubs would admit that they are each spending about $500,000 a year on a handful of local lads who aren't up to scratch, creating a logical counter argument that says that sort of money would be better spent on luring one high-profile international star.
There's the obvious, practical value that comes with a foreign recruit – which is they are not subject to All Blacks rest protocols.
As much as the Crusaders have had quality performances out of Matera, so too have they had quantity from him.
But the real value in foreign recruitment may not lie in the seen, but rather the unseen – the netherworld of intangible benefit.
The rest of the world has plundered Kiwi talent and benefitted from the influx of intellectual property they bring and yet here in New Zealand, there remains this view that there is nothing to be learned from outsiders or any possibility of a return on investment.
It is not only outdated to think like that, but perhaps a touch arrogant because a world class operator such as Matera, with a deeply ingrained sense of professionalism, has most likely taught the Crusaders as much as he has learned from them.
Those not developed here bring a freshness and variety of thinking that can be invaluable. Look back to how much Ronan O'Gara brought as an assistant coach to the Crusaders and how Richie Mo'unga grew as a No 10 under the tutelage of the former Irish first-five.
Imagine a brave new world where the likes of England's Maro Itoje spends a season with the Blues; South Africa's Faf de Klerk joins the Chiefs; France's Antoine Dupont plays for the Hurricanes; Johnny Sexton turns out for the Crusaders and Scotland's Hamish Watson goes to the Highlanders.
And all it will take for this world to become a reality is a simple realisation that New Zealand can exploit the global labour market the same as everyone else.
