Wynne Gray: London game may be sign of the future

A Twickenham game will help those who have pushed for a global rugby schedule. Photo / Getty Images

The Crusaders have always been the red-and-blacks. Even more so now as matches in Christchurch are farmed out from their earthquake-ruined stadium.

Figuring out a solution to their disrupted Super 15 campaign is about finding a balance between holding matches for their supporters and making a profit, seeing the figures in the black column swamp those in the red.

So if chief executive Hamish Riach and his advisers figure the best deal for the Crusaders is to play their sixth-round clash against the Sharks at Twickenham, rather than say Nelson, Timaru or Eden Park, they should go for it.

They have the financial facts, they know how much moolah they need to run the franchise, how much they can collect from their voyage to the UK and whether they can persuade the Sharks to play ball.

There must be a huge commercial upside for the Crusaders which we are not privy to, while the television deals must also have been sorted out between Sky and their British suppliers.

Other benefits for Sanzar officials will be the chance to showcase a Super 15 game to a massive crowd at Twickenham after some of the alternate viewings in the Six Nations series.

Perhaps SARU bigwigs have given the idea a push as they have been keen for the Springboks to be added to the Six Nations series.

None of us who live outside Christchurch can understand the emotional, financial and social turmoil that city has been through since the February 22 quake.

We can raise our eyebrows and be sceptical but only those at Crusaders HQ and those who live within red-and-black territory can judge the merits of moving the match to Twickers. The financial reasons must be compelling.

Otherwise why fly a squad to the other side of the world when they have been reluctant to leave Canterbury for too long in recent weeks?

Obviously that round-the-globe trip, with recovery helped by a bye the following round, far outweighs a 90-minute plane trip to Eden Park and a generous clip of the commercial ticket there.

The Sharks must be getting a sweetener too, otherwise why would they want to travel home from their game in Hamilton on Friday for another match via London, instead of playing the Crusaders in New Zealand then heading home for a top of their conference meeting with the Stormers?

There are all sorts of questions about such an overseas match and whether it will begin to give a Harlem Globetrotters-style feel to rugby. Will it be marketed as an earthquake relief match or a chance for the franchise to sort out its ailing finances?

A Twickenham game will help those who have pushed for a global rugby schedule and it may be the catalyst for that type of adjustment, or a truncated, intersecting programme in a season which runs too long.

Others will be turned off, unwilling to break their routines to take in a match on the other side of the world in the early hours of the morning.

If anything, other than an overflow of cash in the Crusaders' war chest, it will inject more interest in a World Cup year and provoke all sorts of inter-hemisphere comparisons.