Former Blues player Jared Payne represents Ireland. Photo / Getty Images
Former Blues player Jared Payne represents Ireland. Photo / Getty Images
There's enough New Zealand-born talent going to the World Cup but not playing for the All Blacks to form a more-than-handy team.
Seriously, this ex-pat amalgamation playing under different flags could be brought together, called the Exiles and probably make the knockout rounds.
As impressive as that is, it's not good for New Zealand rugby. That there are, excluding the Pacific Island nations, 20 New Zealand-born players in other squads represents both the strength and vulnerability of the game here.
The amount of coaching capital involved with other teams is even more significant. There are seven New Zealanders going to England as head coach and only one of them is with the All Blacks.
The other six are Joe Schmidt (Ireland), Warren Gatland (Wales), John McKee (Fiji), Vern Cotter (Scotland), Milton Haig (Georgia) and Kieran Crowley (Canada).
Respectively, they are in charge of sides ranked three, five, nine, 10, 13 and 18 in the world.
New Zealand players and coaches have been shifting overseas since the dawn of the professional age.
It's become an accepted part of the professional package and viewed as an inevitable development given New Zealand's reputation for producing good players and coaches. The offshore markets have money and demand — New Zealand has supply ... market forces will always prevail.
What the World Cup provides is a snapshot in time, a clear and indisputable picture of where the game sits. The volume of exported talent tends to be seen as a source of pride, confirmation that New Zealand has an enviable supply of quality players.
There's usually a bit of shoulder shrugging, too — a kind of, 'who really cares because these guys weren't ever going to be long-term All Blacks?' Nothing lost.
That attitude misses the point that, while the All Blacks haven't missed out directly, there is an indirect impact. What it illustrates is how much intellectual property has been freely given to New Zealand's biggest competitors.
This isn't the norm in sport. Ferrari don't hand out blueprints for their Formula 1 cars. If a young footballer is developed at the Real Madrid academy and poached by Barcelona, the latter has to pay a small fortune — a trade barrier of sorts that prevents the free flow of intellectual property.
Ireland's Joe Schmidt.
New Zealand rugby is truly exposed, though. Those players and coaches who leave take valid knowledge with them. They take ideas, usable effective working capital that, over time, becomes valuable to the nation to which they defect.
There's no getting away from that. New Zealand's diaspora are not only getting rich, but they are also getting rich at New Zealand's expense.
Rugby moves quickly in the sense that technical and tactical information has a short shelf life. What's relevant this year can be redundant in six months. The fine detail is safe.
But plenty of big-picture secrets have been adopted by the likes of England, Ireland and Wales, secrets that have been shared by ex-pat players and coaches. Look at how the three Celtic nations — particularly Ireland and Wales — have been consistently strong since Kiwi coaches took the helm. Ireland jumped to No2 in the world (they were recently usurped by Australia) and fixed many of their old failings since Schmidt started in November 2013. They don't fade out of games any more because he has got them fitter. They exert more pressure on opponents now, because they have improved their basic skills.
Georgia's Milton Haig.
They don't lose their shape as easily, either, and have a mentality that is patient and deliberate — just like the All Blacks. Again, it doesn't sound like there is anything secret in regard to their transformation. But the secret is not knowing what to do, it is knowing how to do it.
That's what New Zealand has exported to the world — players and coaches who know how to properly prepare to play test football. Kiwi exports have helped instil better habits and disciplines in their team-mates. Scotland were pretty much a basket case between 2011 and late 2013. Cotter arrived, threw out a host of older players and invested in youth — and a couple of New Zealand Super Rugby players Sean Maitland and John Hardie. After a difficult start, Scotland now appear on the right track - tighter, driven and with genuine belief.
Georgia are similar. Since Haig took over after the last World Cup, they have jumped to No13 in the rankings and are probably a better side than Italy.
There's no way of knowing this for sure, but the volume of Kiwi exports appears to have reached a critical mass where it's safe to assume any advantage New Zealand might have once held in regard to the basics - application and understanding of - has been lost.
