Richard Loe: Rest strategy good but may need tweak

The New Zealand Rugby Union should stick to their guns over the All Blacks being rested from the Super 14 - but they may have to tweak their plans a bit.

Most people are picking that the NZRU plans to rest the All Blacks - which upset Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd - were a mistake or perhaps even an oversight.

But it looks to me as if the NZRU are running this up the flagpole and keeping an eye on who salutes.

One of the methods of negotiating is to try for the golden apple first time up - but then, after negotiation, settling for something less than publicly sought but something which will still, privately, suit.

There is no doubt the Super 14 sucked up a lot of the year last season. We were all still on the beach on holiday when it kicked off and cricket was still playing in the cold and wet weather, as they tried to fit themselves around the Super 14. Too much rugby? Of course there is.

If the top All Blacks and top players in world rugby are kept out of the World Cup - which News Ltd doesn't have the broadcast rights for - then it's the game and the fans who suffer, not Mr Murdoch's boys.

No, I am with Chris Moller and the NZRU on this one.

If you float an idea out there, at least it is discussed and gets thought about by audiences like News Ltd - even if they initially make discouraging noises publicly.

They now have a chance to think about it and talk about it and view the options.

If the NZRU had taken it to them beforehand, they would have jumped on it with both feet and the attempt might have died before it was born. Doing it this way gives a greater chance of success.

I think there are two other reasons the Australians don't like this move by Graham Henry and the NZRU: 1) it was a Kiwi idea and not an Australian one and 2) they can't do it even if they wanted, because they simply do not have the depth New Zealand rugby does.

That's where I think News Ltd might end up, when they look at things properly.

Look at the Super 14 this year when Richie McCaw wasn't playing. The Crusaders chose a guy called Tanerau Latimer who turned in a couple of excellent games. I notice he is currently on the bench for the Bay of Plenty. That's the depth of New Zealand rugby right there.

In the Air NZ Cup, Cameron McIntyre and Stephen Brett have stuck their hands up with Dan Carter not playing and so Canterbury now have some excellent options available for when he's not there.

Robbie Deans has sorted out his playing and coaching options and is readying himself for the times when the All Blacks aren't there. Any takers for a bet that the Crusaders won't be as efficient and as hard to beat as they always are? Didn't think so.

New Zealand rugby has a long history of depth and of players seizing opportunities - so it is odds-on that the competition and the spectacle will not be greatly altered by not having the All Blacks.

Having said that, the NZRU might have to give up the idea of long, rigid blocks of no playing time for a lot of All Blacks.

Instead, they just have to manage it smarter. Carter and McCaw are out for four to five weeks.

Fair enough, they have had a lot of rugby. But work things, player by player, so those who need them get breaks yet the players' absence doesn't seem like a boycott by the Blacks.

That's where I think things will end up once the two sides have sat down around a table.