Richard Loe: New NPC looks like a recipe for disaster

Any way you look at it, life is going to be very hard for Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Tasman (Marlborough-Nelson Bays) over the next two years and I'm afraid I can't see much of a future for them or for the new NPC.

Salary cap or no salary cap, I have serious doubts about the new NPC. I heard Chris Moller from the NZRU saying on the radio that it was a great opportunity for those unions to get their systems and people in place. Well, I'm sorry Mr Moller, but they'll have to have bloody good systems in place to stand up to being beaten by 50 points on a regular basis.

What system will prevent young players from going to other unions if they see the senior side getting kicked in the arse on a regular basis? I'd exempt Counties-Manukau from this as they might do OK. They have depth and strength in junior and schoolboy rugby and players who don't make it in Auckland or North Harbour don't have very far to go to find an alternative.

But I can see that the new NPC is actually going to weaken two unions - Wellington and Taranaki.

These two have essentially made up the Hurricanes in Super 12 but now there will be four division one unions within the Hurricanes - meaning players do not have to go to Wellington or New Plymouth to play Super 12.

The salary cap is designed to help spread players from the major unions to these smaller unions but I just can't see it happening.

Players will either want to stay put - as Andrew Mehrtens told the national panel when they wanted him to play for the Hurricanes in Super 12 - or go overseas for the big money, as Mehrts and Justin Marshall eventually did. It's a shame that we continue to lose players like this when they could be retained for the good of New Zealand rugby.

Reuben Thorne was made a good offer by Canterbury and essentially made a lifestyle decision to stay in New Zealand with a young family. Marshall has a young family too but I'm hearing there are few, if any, players in the UK who will be earning what he is earning.

So that's the problem with a salary cap. It would work fine if it actually was a cap - but players can sniff out better offers overseas. If the NZRU are sincere about channelling players to, and looking after, the small unions, they will have to address this with more than a salary cap.

I think the Manawatus, Hawke's Bays and Tasmans might also suffer in the coaching department. Who will their coaches be? Will they stick with their second division coaches into the future or will they get coaches who have had their day?

One way the NZRU can attract player resources to smaller unions is to get the right coaches. Warren Gatland has come back and I believe he will make a mark soon. I see Craig Dowd is helping to coach Wasps. Todd Blackadder might be ready to come back to New Zealand. Let's get Mehrts and Marshall back to coach, if they are interested, when the time is right.

Only through such initiatives will the resources stay in New Zealand and can be spread more evenly through the country. But a salary cap alone won't do it.


- HERALD ON SUNDAY