The Breakdown team chat with All Blacks flanker Sam Cane and CEO of NZR Players Association Rob Nichol on the future of the game in NZ
COMMENT:
The effects of the coronavirus on rugby in New Zealand has presented a strange dichotomy of simultaneously making many things impossible for now while opening up various opportunities in the near future which seemed impossible just weeks ago.
One major consequence could be the appearance of many, if notall, of our All Blacks in the Mitre 10 Cup – a minor miracle in itself and one which will give a largely-forgotten competition a massive boost.
Another could be the appearance in that competition of what must be considered legends of the New Zealand game – players such as Kieran Read who could play his first ever senior game for Counties, and, wait for it, Dan Carter, who may be a possibility to represent Auckland.
Back in 2009, when Carter, who was living in Auckland, considered switching from the Crusaders to the Blues, it was the fear of disappointing his family, and in particular a grandmother, which kept him in red and black. He decided commuting to Christchurch was preferable to playing for what virtually all Crusaders fans regard as their natural enemy.
Now, after a stint in France for Racing and time in Japan with the Kobelco Steelers – the latter cut short by Covid-19 - Carter is back in Auckland and presumably suffering from rugby withdrawal symptoms.
Dan Carter in action for the Kobelco Steelers. Photo / Photosport
The now 38-year-old, the world's leading test points scorer, has been a professional player for 18 years but shows no signs of heading into retirement.
He was in a neck brace early this year after surgery on a cervical spine problem but even that didn't stop him, and this week the first-five, who last played for the All Blacks in 2015 when he guided the nation home in the World Cup final against Australia at Twickenham, was photographed training in the back yard of his Remuera home.
After a Herald inquiry, a representative of Carter's responded that his client wasn't ready to talk to the media.
Dan Carter trains at his Auckland home. Photo / Photosport
Read into that what you will, but a liberal scattering of All Blacks around New Zealand's provinces (for example the three Barrett boys playing for Taranaki), and Carter wearing the Auckland No 10 or No 12 jersey and coming up against fellow playmakers Beauden Barrett, Richie Mo'unga, and Aaron Cruden - another Kobelco Steelers player with an uncertain future - would make the competition the most important in New Zealand since the glory days of the 1980s and 90s and send it into the stratosphere as far worldwide interest is concerned.
Wishful thinking, perhaps, and plenty of water to flow under the Harbour Bridge even before rugby starts again, but right now the best most of us can do is to think positively, and there are glimmers of hope on the horizon.
New blood injected into World Rugby in the form of Agustin Pichot's late tilt as chairman? Yes, please. A truly global rugby season for a truly global game? Most of us would take that. Former All Blacks skipper Read back early from Japan and playing for Counties? Thumbs up. Dan Carter, World Rugby's player of the decade, in blue and white hoops, sending Rieko Ioane past Richie Mo'unga and George Bridge for a try in Christchurch?
