New Zealand Rugby must back Scott Robertson and waive All Blacks eligibility rules: Gregor Paul

ANALYSIS

Since Scott Robertson came into the job, he’s been clear that he’d like his employer to be open to changing its policy about only selecting domestic players for the All Blacks, hinting strongly he believes it may no longer be fit for purpose and could unnecessarily be hurting the national side.

His advocacy for change has been misread as a single-purpose mission to gain access to the Japan-based Richie Mo’unga, amid concerns that the All Blacks will struggle without the cool head, game management and all-round ability of the man who has worn the No 10 jersey for much of the past two years.

But the All Blacks coach’s motivation to have the policy scrutinised is not being driven by self-interest or the fear that his tenure may not start with the results he would like because of a lack of experience in such a key role.

The new coach hasn’t shown his selection hand yet, but Robertson was never afraid to promote youth while he was at the Crusaders and his coaching history suggests he will be brave enough to load his All Blacks with emerging stars such as Xavier Numia, Peter Lakai, Cortez Ratima, Billy Proctor and Noah Hotham.

Robertson has hinted as much himself already, telling media that his intent is to find the right balance in his opening 32-man squad between experienced All Blacks and those uncapped players who have stood out in what he says have been impressively intense Super Rugby Pacific games between New Zealand teams.

“We have got a lot of established All Blacks, a lot of guys coming back from the Rugby World Cups and a lot of guys who have been All Blacks before, available,” he said.

“You spend 80 per cent of your time on the 20 per cent of the players who haven’t been All Blacks before.

“You see their current form and are they executing. You look at some of the local derbies, which have been great opportunities for us to see what they are like under pressure.

“To see their traits and we will use all these games right until the end of the season to make sure we make the right decisions.”

What’s becoming obvious as this season plays out and various senior players unveil their career decisions is that what’s driving Robertson to push for change is his conviction that rugby’s tectonic plates have shifted so far in the last few years that the danger of changing the eligibility policy is significantly less than the danger presented by not changing it.

If the policy was fit for purpose and not riddled with inconsistencies, Robertson clearly believes it would enable him to pick the best New Zealanders rather than just the best available New Zealanders.

Richie Mo’unga, pictured in pool play against Namibia at Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse, during the 2023 Rugby World Cup, is now playing in Japan. Photo / Photosport

He’s going to be able to pick a highly competitive squad for the July tests, but if he was able to cast his net that little bit wider, he’d be able to pick an even better All Blacks team, and having coached for so long in Super Rugby to gain such a deep insight into the mechanics of the professional system, he doesn’t feel that minor changes in the policy would destroy the fabric of the domestic game.

International rugby is governed by an ethos of having the best players available - it’s this which dictates wider eligibility policies and regulations around clubs having to release individuals so they can represent their country.

But New Zealand’s policy is restrictive, out of tune with the thinking of the global game and the need to differentiate international rugby from club rugby, which is why Robertson has been working every avenue he can to instigate a change of thinking at board level, while also practically trying to persuade Mo’unga, Shannon Frizell, and possibly others, to come home before their current contracts expire.

It is believed that after publicly saying shortly after he landed the All Blacks job that he would be looking to challenge the board’s thinking around the eligibility policy, Robertson was rebuked by his employer and asked to keep discussions on the issue in-house.

When he was asked about where things sit with Mo’unga and the possibility of the 56-cap first five-eighths cutting short his three-year contract at Toshiba, Robertson would only say: “My job is to get the best players for the All Blacks. I am not going to talk about individuals, but my role is to get the best All Blacks who are available on the field, for our country.

“What goes on behind the scenes we have to be really professional about, especially around employment stuff.

“That is all I can say on that.”

He doesn’t need to elaborate because it is apparent that the policy hasn’t kept pace with changing market trends, most specifically the decision by Japan to shift their club competition to align with Super Rugby Pacific and all the ramifications that has wrought in career decision-making and opportunities for New Zealand’s best players.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has interpreted this date shift as an opportunity to conveniently allow leading players to take one-season sabbatical deals in Japan and be immediately available for the All Blacks when they return.

It is sold as a win-win - a chance for the players to enjoy a cash windfall and for NZR to keep them longer-term - but there is an alternative view, as supported by Sam Cane’s decision to call time on his international career, that these sabbatical deals are a way for Japanese clubs to sell a compelling lifestyle and rugby experience to New Zealand’s best players that makes them want to stay there for longer.

Among Robertson’s concerns will be the certainty that while Cane is the first player to ask for an early release from his NZR contract so he can commit to play in Japan for longer, he won’t be the last.

So too will Robertson likely have asked the NZR board to challenge this outdated notion that every player from rookie Super Rugby campaigner to All Blacks centurion is best served playing in New Zealand.

Why, for example, couldn’t Ardie Savea stay in Japan longer-term and yet still be eligible for the All Blacks?

At 30, it might suit his battered body better to play his club rugby there, leaving the door open at the Hurricanes for the 21-year-old Peter Lakai to learn his craft in the more bruising and physical environment of Super Rugby.

All it would take would be to impose a threshold of how many caps a player must have won before they become eligible to be picked from an offshore club.

The Australians have had this policy for a decade and their limit is 70 caps, which if New Zealand had also adopted, may have greatly altered the thinking of Mo’unga.

Sam Cane has called time on his All Blacks career. Photo / Getty Images

He finished the World Cup with 56 caps, so if the option had been available, would he have stayed in New Zealand in 2024 and 2025 to reach the 70-test threshold and then have signed for a Japanese club?

He’d have been available to the All Blacks for the entirety of this World Cup cycle under that ruling, albeit missing two Super campaigns.

Compare that with Jordie Barrett, who’s recently signed a four-year contract extension that keeps him All Blacks eligible for the entire World Cup cycle, but he will skip Super Rugby next year to play for Leinster.

These two pathways are variations of the same theme, but NZR has convinced itself that it would be dangerous to formalise any more exemption schemes other than its short-term sabbatical policy.

It doesn’t quite make sense as sabbatical clauses are nothing more than a means to an end - a compromise deal to keep long-serving players available to the All Blacks for longer - which is precisely what a threshold policy would do.

What makes even less sense, and why perhaps Robertson feels he may yet persuade the NZR board to reconsider, is that the system is so riddled with case-by-case inconsistencies that Brodie Retallick was allowed to sign a four-year deal in 2019 that enabled him to play two club seasons in Japan and be available to the All Blacks in three of those four years.

It is probable, but for the fact Retallick wanted some recuperation and recovery time in 2020, that had he asked, he’d have been eligible to the All Blacks for all four years of his contract.

And what if Frizell, who is contracted with Toshiba until May next year, agrees now to return to New Zealand in 2025 - would he be granted an exemption to be eligible for the All Blacks this year?

He would after all be making a longer-term commitment to NZR and could 2024, therefore, be retrospectively considered a sabbatical season?

“I won’t talk about anyone’s individual contracts who is playing overseas until it has been announced,” Robertson said of Frizell.

“Obviously he is still at his peak and he can still play great rugby. We are watching him from afar in Japan., Would we love to have him come back? Of course we would. It would give us depth in the loose forwards. It is a wait and see.”

Robertson, then, quite obviously isn’t campaigning for one man, he’s campaigning for a more effective, up-to-date eligibility framework that more accurately reflects market forces, better serves the whole of the New Zealand rugby fraternity and removes the inconsistent decision-making that stokes division and denies fans from seeing the best players turn out for the All Blacks.

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.