Move by Otago angers the Bay

By CHRIS RATTUE


Bay of Plenty are fuming over approaches made by Otago to their players in the lead-up to their NPC semifinal against Canterbury.

And they are also disappointed that the Blues have knocked back their request that assistant coach Joe Schmidt remain at the Steamers.

Sources in Otago suggest they are chasing Bay of Plenty inside backs Grant McQuoid and Rua Tipoki for their provincial and Super 12 sides.

In fairness to Otago, the New Zealand Rugby Union system virtually invites provinces to approach players to settle any moves at NPC semifinal time.

In Otago's case, a move to their union is clearly a move into Super 12 calculations, especially given their hopeless NPC efforts and Southland's woes.

Players who wish to transfer to a province outside their present Super 12 area must indicate this by Friday.

But if Tipoki and McQuoid instead shift to Otago during the official November transfer period, they could not be among the Highlanders' initial 24 selections and might be lost to them.

Bay of Plenty chief executive Paul Abbot said Otago had made approaches, through an agent, within the past couple of days.

And "reading between the lines", he said it was clear Otago wanted the players to transfer unions for Super 12 purposes.


"A suspicious mind would say that ... it looks like an interesting breach of the regulations. You can't use the Super 12 jersey to lure someone to another province. They can put their hand on their hearts and say it isn't so, but it really is difficult not to link an NPC jersey to a Super 12 jersey.

"And the timing is the real issue. The players should be getting ready for a big match on Saturday night. Instead, they're thinking about what the future holds, what size the cheque might be, and how they are going to like living in a colder climate. It's just not on."

Bay of Plenty's success has caused the forces of the game to descend upon what was a first division backwater.

This has extended to their coaches, with Vern Cotter set to become the Crusaders' forwards coach and Schmidt already signed up by the Blues to assist Peter Sloane.

But whereas the Crusaders will release Cotter back to Bay of Plenty, Abbot says the Blues are refusing to do the same with Schmidt.

Bay of Plenty believe that through his Super 12 move, Schmidt will end up working against the Steamers with Auckland.

"The Blues say there is a conflict of interest. We're disappointed," Abbot said.

"In the long term it will be much better for New Zealand if the talent is spread around."


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