The ARU must not go near Hayne

OPINION: Surely Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver can’t fall into the trap of being a pawn in Jarryd Hayne’s negotiations.

Hayne’s worth would also be limited as he can’t represent the Wallabies, unlike when Israel Folau made the switch to rugby.

What happened in London when Hayne turned out for Fiji’s rugby sevens team showed he was off the pace physically, but more so how far off the pace he was when it came to understanding the game, and that would only be magnified in the 15-man version.

The development of future Waratahs has to be the long-term priority for Australian rugby, not just a wham-bam-thank-youma’am, tick-that-box kind of player.

When it comes to things I’m not happy about, who came up with the convoluted Super Rugby structure? Particularly the finals system? Whoever did contrive this formula should be on a rocket ship to the moon.

And it nearly cost the Highlanders. They only just hung on in Canberra on Friday night. And if the fickle rugby gods had been against them, they’d be out of the competition now after a super-tight finish.

So why does the system bizarrely punish teams that finished nearer the pointy end of the ladder?

If the current Super Rugby model continues, New Zealand teams will struggle to maintain their dominance. From an Aussie point of view, that might not be a bad thing. This season the Australian conference was the one that underperformed. I said at the start of the season that our teams would face a reality check when they took on Kiwi opposition.

You can always get a quick barometer of how you are tracking by playing a Kiwi team. That’s exactly what happened in the second-last round. Our teams were smoked, you could say, and we had to hang our collective heads as a whitewash resulted. The Australian teams had just three wins and one draw from 25 games against New Zealand opposition this season.

There is no doubt that the Kiwi teams have excelled this season, and what their provinces have produced has been nothing short of extraordinary. They have made Super Rugby watchable.

You just have to look at their skill level in all types of conditions, and sit back and say ‘‘wow’’. The ball movement has been exceptional, but it’s the emergence of a new bread of player that has stood up since the retirement of the big five – Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock and Ma’a Nonu – that has been impressive.