Grass isn’t always greener overseas
OPINION: Crowd sizes in France’s Top 14 league are falling.
Dan Carter trots out to average crowd of just 8,863 at his Paris club Racing 92. That’s about half of what the Highlanders attracted last year, the best supported Kiwi franchise.
The Top 14 average is 12,824. The average crowd of the New Zealand Super Rugby sides last year was 15,332.
Even the Jaguares and Sun wolves averaged more than the Top 14 number.
That may surprise given the hype the French league attracts, but as Dan Carter has found out in his second year at Racing 92 it’s not all champagne and chocolates.
The critics can be ferocious, the media has far more teeth than here in New Zealand and the training methods can be novel to southern hemisphere athletes.
The whisper is that Quade Cooper found the coaching so chaotic at Toulon he couldn’t wait to get out. That will not be the case at Montpellier, where Aaron Cruden will play under fellow New Zealander Vern Cotter, but the expectation levels will still be significant.
Montpellier are awash with foreign players - largely South Africans and Australians - brought in Jake White’s spell in charge but have little to show for it.
Their 57-3 capitulation against Leinster last weekend in the European Champions Cup was widely seen as an embarrassment.
Their former Springbok Frans Steyn, looking 5-10kg overweight, was sent off for a swinging arm on Ireland No 10 Johnny Sexton. It was another signal that all was not well at the club. The reasons put forth by France-based rugby writer Gavin Mortimer for the falloff in French crowds are various, some specific to the Paris clubs Racing 92 and Stade Francais in the wake of terrorist attacks.
However, his overall conclusion was biting: the Top 14 standard hasn’t been very good. Quality games have been few and far between and fans are apparently voting with their feet.
The ascendant competition is Europe is England’s Aviva Premiership.
These issues for Cruden will be softened by the significant pay packet and the opportunity to lap up a cultural experience that will be genuinely refreshing.
But while there are those pull factors to lure Cruden there may have been a bit of pushing too, even if it was of the gentle variety.
Anyone who has seen Cruden at Chiefs training knows he is a boss.
And when you watch Cruden play it’s the things he does off the ball that set him apart - the hard things such as putting chargedown pressure on his opposites, his toughness in contact, that cover tackle on Clyde Rathbone in the 2013 Super Rugby final that essentially won the game.
But there have been issues off the field. There was one notable disciplinary breach in 2014, when Cruden missed a flight to Argentina while on All Blacks duty, and of course the Chiefs’ predilection for strippers at their end of season get-togethers.
As Chiefs co-captain he assumes more than his fair share of responsibility for those tawdry occasions. It would therefore be nigh on astonishing if the view from NZ Rugby towards Cruden wasn’t sterner than has been aired publicly. Certainly key sponsor ASB let its feelings be known in December when chief executive Barbara Chapman said she ‘despaired’ at last year’s off-field rugby scandals.
Still, that chapter is now behind Cruden. What awaits is a new challenge and for once that word is not just a cliche. France is not a holiday, not any more.
Aaron Cruden says he will ‘‘work his butt off’’ to play for the All Blacks against the Lions before he heads to France for a new rugby life.
Cruden will leave New Zealand at the end of the Chiefs’ Super Rugby campaign, which means he will be available for the All Blacks’ series against the British and Irish Lions, who visit for three tests in June and July. On Wednesday, the All Blacks first-five confirmed he has signed a three-year deal with Montpellier after the French Top 14 club had announced the signing, following weeks of speculation that such a move was in the works.
Midi Libre said that he will be paid €800,000 (NZ$1.2 million) per season to play for them.
The deal will reportedly make him the second-highest paid player in the rich French Top 14 behind fellow New Zealander Dan Carter, who left the All Blacks to join Paris club Racing 92 after the 2015 World Cup triumph.
In a video posted on the Chiefs’ Facebook page, Cruden said it was ‘‘with great sadness but also excitement’’ that this would be his last year playing in New Zealand.
The future of the 28-year-old Cruden had been the subject of massive speculation as he had fallen behind Beauden Barrett in the All Blacks pecking order at No 10.
Cruden has played 47 tests for the All Blacks since 2010, but has watched from the sidelines as playmaking rival Barrett soared to be judged the world’s best player in the past 12 months.
But he said he would be doing all he could to play against the Lions.
‘‘Even though it’s coming to an end I look forward to the next six months - firstly the Super Rugby with the Chiefs and hopefully making a good run at the title there and if the future holds an All Black jersey for me in the Lions series, I’ll be working my butt off to make sure that happens.’’
Cruden thanked his fans for their ‘‘loyal and continued support’’ during his career and to his family and friends.
‘‘They’ve stuck by me and given me all that support that was needed for a young kid from Palmy to live out a childhood dream. I consider myself very lucky to be able to do that and played at the highest level of rugby in New Zealand.’’
Montpellier have space on their roster, with former Stormers fiveeighth Demetri Catrakilis moving to the English scene with Harlequins. Montpellier’s other New Zealand first-five, Ben Botica, has failed to convince them he is the player to take them to the next level. Montpellier are an increasingly ambitious outfit. Third on the current French Top 14 table, they have signed New Zealand coach Vern Cotter to take over next season.
Cotter shifts to France once duties are completed at Scotland where he is facing the Six Nations campaign.
There is speculation that former Springboks halfback Ruan Pienaar will move from Ulster to Montpellier to partner Cruden.
New Zealand Rugby now faces the prospect of losing Ben Smith and Israel Dagg as northern clubs target other All Blacks veterans.