Rugby: Blues may yet get their class first-five

Stephen Brett is potentially a high-quality first five-eighths, but he is still an unfinished article, partly because his chances in the No 10 jersey have been limited with Dan Carter about. Photo / Getty Images

Rugby life is well past the point where hope springs eternal for the Blues, but at least the sentiment is bidding at a comeback.

Stephen Brett is being touted as the first five-eighths saviour for the Blues, although it is understood the southern giants are having a rethink while making sure Dan Carter and Colin Slade remain healthy. Brett would stay with Canterbury for the NPC though.

Seeing is believing when it comes to heralded Cantabrians leaving the Super 14 fold, and the confirmation is not yet through. All should be revealed about November 9, when the franchises must name their protected players.

The Crusaders, who watched an All Black-laden Canterbury side almost rolled by Hawkes Bay this week, may get cold feet and Brett is an option in a couple of positions. Brett might even look elsewhere rather than the Blues for regular game time, although probably not. The silent hand of the NZRU and All Black selectors will be at play. The plot is thick, with subplots everywhere.

But let's assume Canterbury play ball, leave him out of their protected favourites, and the Blues stitch together a Brett deal through the draft.

Brett is potentially a high-quality first five-eighths, and well above anything the thriving metropolis can come up with any more. He has attacking gifts without doubt, but he is no sure bet as the northern franchise's panacea and the manner of his predicted arrival is hardly convincing either.

The prophets of hope will claim the once-were-giants of the Super competition have found a pivot to direct them around, that they are ready to explode again.

If you believe the reports, Brett came at the end of a long line of first five-eighths who said no thanks to the Blues.

If you believe Blues coach Pat Lam, the length of the queue was exaggerated.

Rather than remain cast as the understudy to Dan Carter, Brett will play for the Blues but return to Canterbury - who hold his provincial contract - for the NPC under this arrangement.

This is apparently as good as it gets for Auckland these days, participants in a watered-down version of whatis regarded as standard dedicationto the cause in most sports.

It is a Plan-B solution to a major problem area. The whole Blues organisation would benefit from the presence of a star first five-eighths who was part of their system from top to bottom. This would certainly make it far easier to build a team around Brett, give the plans long-term certainty, and also allow his influence to reach below the fully professional level.

From the supporters' point of view, this represents another case of a leading player having a foot in both camps of what should be bitter rivals.

Tribalism, as a number of rugby analysts have observed, has been eroded to the detriment of New Zealand rugby.

Tepid loyalty is also being blamed for the sport's problems in Australia as state-based teams from new and old rugby territories square off for support against rival club-based football codes. A theory here could be that while player movement is accepted among professional clubs, it doesn't wholly work when provincial parochialism is at stake.

In New Zealand, the Super 14 has inevitably wrecked the old provincial-based system. Rugby stars of the past, including Sean Fitzpatrick, have pinpointed tribalism as a vital missing ingredient. Tribalism is becoming more blurred than ever in New Zealand rugby under the loan system environment in which a player such as Brett might play for the Blues for half the year, then run out in the rival red and black for the rest.

This type of deal may work better when it involves a smaller union, but mixing loyalties between the New Zealand rugby superpowers is gnawing away at supporters' instincts.

The arrangement with Brett certainly reinforces the idea that this is more a career move, a brief marriage of convenience, rather than a wholesale shift of allegiance.

At this point, Brett probably hopes to return to the Crusaders one day. How the Crusaders view that is another matter as their No 10 pecking order isn't clear any more. Then again, should things turn out swimmingly in Auckland, Brett may want to stay.

Brett might not have long to make his mark before decision time comes, however, because European riches and a tempting lifestyle await Carter if he wants them after the 2011 World Cup.

This is speculation for now, and not what will immediately concern Pat Lam and Shane Howarth, the Blues' backs coach.

Brett, who is close to turning 24, is an unfinished article, partly because his chances in the No 10 jersey have been limited with Carter about.

Warwick Taylor, the World Cup-winning All Black and devout Canterbury rugby watcher, believes Brett is getting back to where he should be.

"The more he plays the more he will be confident in his abilities and iron out the problem areas. He probably has been a bit shaky on defence in terms of putting guys on the deck," said Taylor.

"He is coming out of a really good rugby environment. People want to be at Canterbury - it's not about the money. I think he can bring some of what he has learned into the Blues."

Pedigree is on Brett's side. His mother, Lesley, played for the Black Ferns nearly 20 years ago. His stepfather is the former All Black and Canterbury back Victor Simpson.

Brett is also part of the Christchurch Boys High five-eighths dynasty that includes Andrew Mehrtens, Aaron Mauger and Carter.

As impressive as this sounds though, it is no guarantee of success and at the very moment people assumed that Brett would roll with success off the production line, bugbears in his game emerged including soft defence and errant kicks.

For now, he is an enigma who will be surrounded by a Super 14 riddle in the north.

Brett's halfback at the Blues will be the energetic Alby Mathewson, a fringe test player whose provincial allegiances remain with Wellington.

And outside him may wait Luke McAlister, a sorry shadow of the player who hustled off to Europe, an inside back who is to the art of steady influencing what Neemia Tialata is to ballet dancing.

It goes without saying that anyone leaving Canterbury has to get used to life without Richie McCaw, whose influence on any team and game is immense, plus the time-honoured ways of the whole Crusaders organisation.

Crusaders and Blues methods tend towards the opposite - the Canterbury DNA is to play the percentages before launching attacks while the Blues' instincts are to take immediate risks.

You have to ponder at this point whether the Blues' ways will rub off on Brett, or whether he has the strength of character, status and experience to impose a thread of Canterbury-style discipline on his teammates while still being able to release his attacking abilities.

The other factor here is that of all the players to emerge out of Canterbury central control, Brett is the most flaky, and the one most likely to have his own game led astray.

While Brett has come out of the same mill, he doesn't appear cut from the same cloth as Mehrtens, Mauger and Carter.

Blues supporters will reman sceptical. They have been introduced to so many false dawns that the discerning among them will raise the head from the pillow briefly to acknowledge Brett's arrival, and quickly set it back down to complete the night's rest.

Anything below Carter doesn't rate much above halfway on the excitement meter yet.