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As Southern Hemisphere partners South Africa and Australia continue to drift further away from New Zealand Rugby, Kiwi player boss Rob Nichol has declared “enough is enough.”
Nichol, the executive director of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association (NZRPA), has followed a harsh criticism of NZ Rugby’s decision to reject Pasifika’s participation in Super Rugby for 2021, with a staunch warning to officials. from the headquarters that they would let the relations with South Africa and Australia deteriorate at their own risk.
South Africa has pulled out of the upcoming renewed Rugby Championship in Australia and has already started the process of aligning its Super Rugby franchises with the Pro14 competition from the north.
In doing so, they made it clear that they felt they had been forced down that path by New Zealand’s decision to “localize” franchise competition in the wake of the pandemic.
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* New Zealand Rugby is not surprised by South Africa’s departure from Super Rugby
And the relationship with Australia continues to falter precariously, despite a clear need for trans-Tasmanian rugby rivals to band together to cement a flagship Super Rugby competition of the future.
Just this week, Rugby Australia President Hamish McClennan repeated his claim in an interview with Stuff that the relationship with NZ Rugby was at its “lowest point”, a claim that his New Zealand counterpart Brent Impey strongly denied, as the pair still do not even agree to disagree.
NZ Rugby is certainly sending mixed messages, at best, to Australians with confirmation that they are determined for a Super Rugby Aotearoa competition again for 2021, although they are looking to bring in three new teams from the wide ‘Asia region. -Pacific “for the following season.
This, despite initially telling Australians that they believed only three of their teams were good enough to be part of a renewed Super Rugby competition in the future. And the planned expansion of Super Rugby Aotearoa appears to be at odds with the vision of a trans-Tasmanian competition to be launched as soon as Covid travel restrictions allow.
Nichol said Stuff He was deeply concerned about the message that New Zealand Rugby continues to send to Sanzaar’s partners as they seek to establish a path out of the most challenging period professional play has ever faced.
He warned that the fractured nature of the southern hemisphere alliance must be repaired if the game in this part of the world is to survive the setbacks caused by the global pandemic.
Maarten Holl / Things
The head of the players’ association, Rob Nichol, says it’s time to start mending southern relations.
Nichol is not being an alarmist. Or otherwise. Under normal circumstances, your organization works well with NZ Rugby, and you have a strong history of trust and mutual respect. But the seasoned player manager also recognizes a worrying situation when he sees it and believes that the “mixed” messages sent from headquarters can permanently damage relationships that are vital to the future of the sport.
Nichol said the NZRPA wanted to send a message of support for South African rugby.
“The first message for South Africa is that if they get mixed messages from other people, New Zealand players respect and love you for being a part of our competitions,” Nichol said in an interview before the Rugby Championship decision.
“The other part is if New Zealand has done something that made you feel like you wanted to turn around, 100% are not the players. We don’t want you to go. We want it to stay and if there is a way to retain it, we want it to happen.
But we are also realistic. Covid has had a devastating impact on all kinds of things, and we recognize the situation you are in and feel sorry for you.
You are in survival mode. We understand that it is natural to look north and frankly we can understand why you choose to go there. Despite what has been said publicly, we believe that you don’t really have many options and we identify with it. “
And Nichol’s last point to the South African was perhaps the most important.
“Whatever you do, we want a stronger relationship going forward. Not the same, not a fractured one … we want a stronger one. Whether it’s based on the Rugby Championship or a world competition or the fact that we still have an alliance through Sanzaar, we want to keep it. “
Nichol’s concern extended beyond the South African alliance and he said the players’ vision was closely aligned with a perspective of strength in numbers.
“We believe that with the pandemic, the way things are going, we are actually stronger together. Our opinion is that now is the time to strengthen the Sanzaar alliance; now is the time to work more closely with Australia, Argentina and South Africa and to embrace the island nations.
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John Plumtree says the All Blacks players were “pretty honest” about their individual performances against the Wallabies.
“There is so much uncertainty at the national, national and international levels in the coming years, we have to help each other, and we can only do that with strong relationships and alliances.”
And by asking administrators across the Sanzaar alliance to step back and rethink the way forward through the lens of players, coaches, referees and fans, Nichol also took advantage of NZ Rugby’s lackluster approach thus far.
“We do not believe that New Zealand’s approach of feeling that it has to be the one that controls, owns and dictates in a public sense is the way to go,” he added. “We believe that the starting point and the only narrative is that we are going to work with Australia and the Pacific Island nations to find the best option to move forward.
“How it is structured and ultimately governed, how finance works, it is the detail that must be resolved. That will be tense and difficult and may mean that New Zealand has the advantage in some respects. “
But, again, Nichol urged perspective.
“New South Wales is bigger than all of New Zealand, and they have one team, we have five. Australia is five times our size and they bring assets and legacy to the table.
“The concept of having five New Zealand teams, an Island-based team, a Bay of Plenty-based team and a Western Force-based team in an eight-team competition defies logic. Posting that sends mixed messages if you are Australia. Two months ago it caused all kinds of problems; now it is repeating. Why are they doing this? Why does the scab pick up again?
“I heard the message that we are open to working with Australia and that is a good thing. But ditch the other one, put it on the back burner, and if it all falls with Australia and the island nations, then yeah, let’s get back to what we can do to add to our five teams.
“But that’s not the starting point, and it’s time someone said so.”
