John Drake: Big boys of NPC ponder their big buys

COMMENT


It's the business end of the season and, as per usual, a lot of it is happening off the field.

But let's start with the footy first.

The standard of the NPC has been right up there with previous seasons, All Blacks or no All Blacks.

The major interest has been the winning ways of North Harbour, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki - all non-Super 12 franchise teams.

Each has done well by introducing new, young, exciting players (Nick Williams, Colin Bourke, Lifeimi Mafi, etc) while also using the experience, knowledge and professionalism of their too-few Super 12 players.

These unions are not strong financially but have good player bases - particularly North Harbour and BoP. Whether they make the playoffs is now in their own hands - which is something some of the big boys will envy!

You could expect Canterbury, Wellington, Waikato and Auckland to all figure in the semifinals. The problem is, seven doesn't go into four, so some of the superpowers may miss out.

And the second and third divisions have produced some new names who will no doubt find scouts from division-one teams knocking on the door soon.

NPC form usually leads to Super 12 contracts for division-one players. This makes it tricky for the big unions who have paid real money to capture talent from other areas but now find these players out-performed by the little guys.

Traditionally the edge in Super 12 selection has always been with players from the Super 12 base unions and those from the likes of North Harbour have missed out. They then head overseas - or to a student flat in north Dunedin.

Some of the smaller unions may feel that Super 12 money is propping up the NPC teams of the host franchise unions.

Which leads to my main question this week. How can Otago - with fewer players than Bay of Plenty, Counties Manukau, North Harbour or Hawkes Bay - continue to justify its status as a Super 12 host union?

How can the Highlanders, with just over 9 per cent of the NZ player base, continue when the next-lowest is the Chiefs with 19 per cent?

I'll suggest a reason. Auckland, with just under 15 per cent of the total New Zealand players, has the same votes (five) on the NZRFU as Otago, which has only 4.9 per cent of the country's players. I'll add here that those five votes are only three more than North Otago, which has only 0.42 per cent of the players.

If Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen could have structured the votes in sunny Queensland like this then he'd still be in power!

Certainly, I see why the North Harbours of this world must really wonder who they upset in a former life.

North Harbour is stuck in a Super 12 franchise with the most powerful union in the country and doesn't get many players in the team. Yet they have a huge player base and continually have their players plucked by overseas clubs, or to prop up smaller unions down south.

In the meantime, North Harbour, Bay of Plenty, etc, rely on crumbs from the Super 12 table and NZRFU generosity, which is greatly accepted.

If the much talked about playing field was in fact really level, then maybe they wouldn't need this help. How long can the NZRFU hold on to this imbalance of power?

The other pressing issues for the NZRFU is its television rights proposal and the IRB's move towards creating a global season.

I think the much-maligned NZRFU has done the best it could with the TV rights.

It is fighting to get as much cash as possible to keep things going and must wonder when some senior players react badly to the prospect of playing a few more games.

The increase in games is proposed so the NZRFU can attempt to continue to pay those same complaining players. The reality is that the NZRFU is playing a very high-stakes game of poker and it doesn't hold many aces. There are only a couple of other players who could leave the game early and leave the NZRFU short of stake money.

The sooner the global season is sorted out, the better for NZ rugby. It will allow more flexibility and time for the Super 12, and give us more internationals. There will, however, be some casualties. Most notably, it will involve the exclusion of All Blacks from the NPC and the loss of sponsorship for that competition.

These are among a host of important issues facing the NZRFU. It will need to act very carefully to keep everyone at least partially happy.

For now, I'll enjoy the NPC and leave the really tough stuff to the NZRFU.

* The player statistics used are those collated by the NZRFU.

* Check nzherald.co.nz/rugby for match results and reports this weekend

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