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Hardline approach All Blacks stay at home rule likely to stay in place
Posted: Tuesday March 30, 1999 03:40 PM
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealanders playing rugby abroad will continue to miss out on All Blacks selection, despite calls for greater flexibility from coach John Hart. A steady stream of New Zealanders have headed to the big-paying English competition, including Harlequins' Zinzan Brooke, but leaving home has meant leaving behind any chance of playing for the national team. Now, during a record losing streak of five games by the All Blacks and after the worst performance in a single Super 12 round, where only one of four Kiwi teams won, Hart and other rugby pundits are urging a softening of the NZRFU's (New Zealand Rugby Football Union) hard-line stance. Former All Blacks captain David Kirk and prominent sports lawyer David Howman joined Hart in saying there are strong grounds for reviewing the policy. Hart said a dwindling player base is a big concern for the country as it builds up for the World Cup later this year. But NZRFU deputy chairman John Spicer is emphatic that the union's policy is correct. "I'm not so blinkered to say we shouldn't debate the issue," Spicer said Tuesday. "But I'm still firmly of the mind that only players based in New Zealand should be picked for the All Blacks and it would require some strong evidence to make me change." NZRFU chairman Rob Fisher said that he and his board agreed with comments from Kirk and Hart that player retention was a big issue. The NZRFU agreed with Kirk on the need to maintain international rugby as the preeminent part of the game, and Fisher noted he had endorsed the present approach of players only gaining All Blacks status if they were playing their rugby in New Zealand. "We know the situation is constantly changing in the Northern Hemisphere with the present financial state of some clubs and the introduction of salary caps only last week for the next season," Fisher said. "We are also aware a number of our players who have gone overseas have become disenchanted and perhaps the grass isn't as green as it used to be, or seemed to be." Spicer said opening up All Blacks selection to players overseas would destroy domestic rugby at sub-union, club and national provincial championship level and he believed it would be detrimental for the game. "We have to find some other means to retain our players, because obviously we're not going to match the dollars on offer overseas," Spicer said. Meanwhile, another theory on the declining New Zealand game has been raised by All Blacks fitness trainer Martin Toomey, who says a third of Kiwi Super 12 players are not as fit as they should be. Toomey said it was not appropriate for all players to be at a fitness peak now, with the World Cup not starting until October. "It is impossible to keep an elite group at the very highest fitness levels for 10 months," Toomey said. "For once in four years I think we have to prioritize a bit. They are at a good level but not as sharp as they will be." New Zealand's teams have made a poor start to this year's Super 12 competition. While the Otago Highlanders share the lead with the Queensland Reds after five rounds, the Crusaders are seventh, the Hurricanes ninth, Auckland Blues 10th and the Chiefs 11th.
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