Rugby: R18 too daft to believe

The NZRU has decreed Wellington's Charlie Ngatai too young to play a full provincial season. Photo / Getty Images

The lunatics really have taken over the asylum this time - Charlie Ngatai, all 98kg of him, can't be let loose for a full provincial campaign.

This thunderous beast of a player who scored three tries for Poverty Bay in last year's Lochore Cup final has to observe a quota. Wellington can use him only three times this season in their midfield and three times at fullback.

If this sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. The New Zealand Rugby Union have imposed this arbitrary restriction because ... well, because Ngatai is 18.

And apparently, even if you are playing senior club football, knock your older team-mates around in training and break through the Hawke's Bay midfield at your leisure, you have to be protected when you are 18.

Of all the muddled thinking, of all the ill-conceived ideas hatched by the New Zealand Rugby Union in recent years, this is the most alarming.

This sits so at odds with the ethos that was central to the All Blacks' success.

There was a time when coaches found the best players in their region and stuck them on the park. No one fretted whether they were 18 or 32.

Imagine telling Jonah Lomu at 18 that he had to be protected. He was an All Black 45 days after he turned 19. John Kirwan, Jeff Wilson, Bryan Williams and Walter Little were also test players at 19.

Good enough ... old enough ... what's wrong with that as a philosophy? The Wallabies go with it. In their ranks is 18-year-old James O'Connor. They haven't imposed any daft restrictions on him.

Even the dopes at rugby HQ must have noticed that rugby is a brutal game - that it's kind of handy having big blokes, like Ngatai, who can knock people over.

They might even have noticed that people get hurt when they play - sometimes the injuries can be quite bad but ho hum, that's the deal and no one wishes it were different.

Ngatai, the former Gisborne Boys' High School superstar, might break his leg next week. He might dislocate his shoulder in his fourth game or twist an ankle in his sixth. You see, his body won't really be counting how many games it's played.

He could just as easily play the whole campaign without incurring even a scratch. The NZRU justify their stance by saying the quota is not there to protect him against injury but with a view to his longer-term development.

As Ngatai is in his first year out of school - he's part of the Wellington Academy - the NZRU fear that too much rugby at 18 might scupper his chances of being in one piece by the time he's 24.

There is no empirical evidence to support this and no consideration that professional players live in the now.

Ngatai might not want to be a professional player when he's 24. He might fall in love with an Armenian sheep herder and spend the rest of his days looking for the resting place of Noah's Ark.

There's a strong argument to be made, too, that at 18, Ngatai might not be that far from his peak. This is a young man's game. Outside backs are like yoghurt - they expire quicker than you realise.

Look at Joe Rokocoko - his best football was played between the ages of 20 and 23. Christian Cullen started to fade when he hit 25.

Ngatai is clearly mystified as to why he's being prevented from playing. Wellington coach Jamie Joseph is no doubt mystified too. He signed up for this job believing he was in charge of the team - free to pick whom he liked knowing that the consequences of failure sat exclusively on his shoulders.

But, no, it turns out that not only does the All Black coach want to pick his side but so too do the NZRU.