Paul Lewis: Future at risk in Cup game

Graham Henry. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The 2011 All Black World Cup campaign begins on Saturday. There has probably never been a more important 15 months in New Zealand rugby history.

A great deal more is at stake than usual. Never before has the future of New Zealand rugby been so clearly threatened. Some say the 2011 Rugby World Cup represents a last gasp. That's maybe overstating it. But will rugby continue its long-term grip as the pre-eminent sport in New Zealand?

Graham Henry and his fellow selectors must be regarding the challenge with some awe. They can scarcely have thought such a thing possible when they were controversially re-elected to another term. Redemption from that woeful 2007 World Cup would likely have been as far as they went in big picture thinking.

But New Zealand rugby is seen to be fighting for its life and the 2011 World Cup is the life preserver bobbing on the seas of professionalism; waves that threaten to engulf the game.

The Henry years have coincided with the worst effects of professionalism, New Zealand's exposed position and the NZRU's seeming inability to adapt to an environment where many of our best players are lured overseas - and where the NZRU's stance is looking increasingly arcane.

The result has been a lessening of quality, instanced by New Zealand's overall failure in the Super 14 and in some of the franchises; a feeling the New Zealand game is falling well behind that of the South Africans; that our overall skill level has dropped; that favouritism at home in 2011 can no longer be taken for granted.

Some of this is scare stuff and butterflies, admittedly. The All Blacks are still world-class with all senior hands present and uninjured; capable of beating anyone.

But another World Cup whoopsy next year and the outlook will move several degrees down the chill factor scale. New Zealand rugby, already battered and bruised, does not need a perception among fans of a serious, if not permanent, loss of status.

Only a World Cup win will prevent that, it seems. However, the All Blacks' ability to do so has been compromised by much-discussed depth and quality issues.

Henry and co must feel as if they are fighting with an arm tied behind their back, with their shoelaces knotted together and their hats on fire. Yet they have been partly responsible for the situation where New Zealand's wardrobe of good players has been exposed as threadbare.

Many players have been tried and spat out quickly - leaving them only one direction to take. Nick Evans was handled badly; released too easily; a decision that could still bite deep.

In a recent radio interview, Henry said players should be "more patient". He gave the example of one unnamed player who had signed a contract overseas only to discover he was wanted for the All Blacks, to his chagrin.

The selectors and the NZRU often didn't know, Henry said, which players were planning to head off. Now, just a goddamn, cotton-picking, are-you-pulling-my-plonker minute. Isn't this what the NZRU and the selectors do?

What's stopping our selectors from being in touch with a wider group of players, constantly communicating and (if necessary) stroking them, managing them so they get in touch before they sign on the dotted line?

Instead, we farewell Ti'i Paulo, Tamati Ellison, Michael Paterson, Anthony Tuitavake overseas and replace them with the rather remarkable sight of the All Black coach chauffeuring Sonny Bill Williams' agent to meet provincial rugby suitors. There's a word comes to mind, rhymes with limp...

It's one of the key weaknesses in New Zealand rugby. We have a central contracts system where all players are contracted to the NZRU. But Henry does not have central control.

He cannot dictate to the provinces or the franchises how he wants things done; who he wants chosen or played positionally for the greater good of the national game. He cannot select players stationed overseas. The money here has to go down prescribed channels - so we can't re-direct money to the likes of Ellison and co but there's plenty for Williams.

It's a ludicrous state of affairs and needs a vast overhaul whether we win the World Cup or not. The time is more than nigh when New Zealand rugby needs to be aligned in a way to better protect the All Blacks.

There are justified complaints about the grassroots dying off - but if the All Blacks wither, the future seems bleak. The structure of the game here seems rickety; out of date. It's all right to use Henry as a chauffeur for Khoder Nasser, Williams' agent, but an All Black coach really needs to be driving the ship, not the taxi.

If you still need convincing, just look at two selections in the All Black squad - rookie first five-eighths Aaron Cruden and halfback Piri Weepu. Cruden is not yet an All Black. He cannot yet boss a game. There are goalkicking and defensive weaknesses. He has undeniable talent, particularly for the sort of game the All Blacks are likely to play - but he's a risk right now.

If you select Cruden, at least partly to stop him going overseas, then you need a proven goalkicker to back up Daniel Carter. That's Weepu. That and the fact that selecting him also binds him closer to New Zealand shores.

All that stuff from the selectors about running halfbacks able to exploit the new rules - like Alby Mathewson, Brendon Leonard and Kahn Fotuali'i? Well, that's all gone where my last chicken vindaloo went. Let's hope some have been told they'll be on the Grand Slam tour or they'll be out at Mangere, filling in a very different departure card.

This is no way for an All Black coach to work. Whatever you think of Henry, he is being asked to fend off the sharks armed with a lettuce leaf and a soggy noodle. It is a massive coaching job in anyone's terms. New Zealand rugby is asking him to win the World Cup with reduced resources and a business model that doesn't work.

Giving the All Black coach more power raises many other issues, of course, but maybe it's time. The current way doesn't seem to be working. It may already be too late.