Player welfare vital ‘priority’
Steve Hansen has a simple piece of advice for World Rugby as it looks to get its problematic world league concept over the line.
Player load has to be the No 1 consideration for any global competition being established, warns the All Blacks coach, and the quicker the game’s governing international body gets its head around that, the quicker it will have a workable concept.
Right now it clearly remains some distance from that point.
World Rugby’s latest proposal for a structured global league mooted for all non-World Cup years has drawn heated criticism from test stars via the International Rugby Players’ Association. A number of high-profile figures, including All Blacks captain Kieran Read, have spoken out against the latest proposal which they feared was set to be rushed through.
The players had learned of plans for a 12-team competition locked in for 12 years, with no promotion/relegation. The schedule was exacting, with July requiring northern sides to play three tests in different southern hemisphere countries over consecutive weeks; and the intended final window necessitating finalists playing on five consecutive weekends in NovemberDecember.
The World Rugby proposal also called for the USA and Japan to join an expanded Rugby Championship, which drew heated criticism around the shutout of the Pacific Island nations. There have even been calls for a World Cup boycott over the snub.
New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew on Friday clarified the latest plan was merely a draft proposal and had no chance of passing muster in its current form. He said a looming March meeting would not include a vote on its introduction, as there was still a lot of work required to come up with an acceptable model.
Hansen did not want to get involved in a debate on the rights and wrongs of draft proposals, but he told the Star-Times it was vital that the workload on test players be the No 1 consideration through this process.
‘‘World Rugby are looking at different ways of doing things. Have they committed to anything yet? No. And the players are saying ‘you have to respect player welfare and the integrity of the game’.
‘‘It’s pretty obvious if we’re going to grow the game we have to have everybody available to play in it. The biggest issue is player welfare and they’ve got to get that right,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘The competition they come up with I’m sure will have that front of mind, particularly after the voicing of their opinions by the players.’’
Hansen called for commonsense over the controversial plans and said it was important the game got this reorganisation of its international product right.
‘‘We’re all jumping the gun Steve Hansen is set for one heck of a last lap of the track.
The All Blacks coach, who has confirmed he will step down from the job at year’s end, has labelled the looming Rugby World Cup in Japan as the most competitive there has ever been.
‘‘It’s going to be one heck of a tournament. We’re excited about the challenge we have to try and win three in a row. No-one has done that and we’re the only ones with that chance.
‘‘But there will also be teams who have never won it before, and they’ll want to do that, and will get excited for those reasons.
‘‘It’s going to be a great tournament.’’
Hansen’s belief that a tournament dominated by southern hemisphere nations
and everyone needs to calm down. With any proposal you go back and say ‘have you thought about this and that’. There is lots in this proposal for people to think about, and most of those things have been made clear.
‘‘But our game needs money, whether we like it or not. We have to do something, and we have to sit around the table and communicate with each other and make sure we look after a) the golden egg [the players] and b) the game itself.’’
The All Blacks coach is a passionate believer that the load on top players has to be managed better. In a perfect world there would be a 14 to 16-week offseason. But in the absence of that alternative plans have to be (winning all but one title) is as open as it’s ever been is fuelled by what he has seen in the north over the last few years, and particularly the past few weeks in the Six Nations.
‘‘It’s been interesting. Ireland went in as firm favourites and with a lot of expectation and probably haven’t delivered on that yet. England have played really well, as have Wales.
‘‘One thing you can say with genuine honesty is all teams up there are playing well.
‘‘France should have beaten Wales in the first round and threw it away.
‘‘England, Ireland and Wales are good rugby sides, France are capable on their day of doing whatever necessary to win and Scotland have shown the last 24 months they’re a good team too.’’
made, such as the NZ Rugby-led round-table between the Super Rugby and All Blacks coaches that came up with current protocols.
‘‘These guys aren’t robots. They can’t just turn up every week and play and play and play. ‘‘We all understand these are the golden eggs and if we don’t look after them, we won’t have ‘em.’’
Hansen pointed to extended breaks this year written into their individual contracts by Sam Whitelock, Kieran Read and Codie Taylor. ‘‘They’re asking for that themselves because they know for them to keep going, they’ve got to have a decent break.’’ Hansen will require his All Blacks for two foundation days during Super Rugby.