Claims of floodgates opening far from the truth

Lima Sopoaga had a cracking test debut. He was outstanding the first time he wore the All Blacks No 10 jersey in South Africa, 2015.

A test at Ellis Park remains one of the toughest challenges in world rugby and Sopoaga had everyone talking after he expertly navigated the All Blacks to a needed test win in the Republic before the World Cup.

But Sopoaga, who went on to win another 15 caps, didn’t have so many great test moments after that.

His only other start came in Brisbane last year when the All Blacks lost and his control of the game was tenuous.

What also became tenuous after that loss in Brisbane, was Sopoaga’s grip on the All Blacks jersey.

He over-delivered in his first test and through no fault of his own, had set public expectation a little too high which may have prevented many from seeing Sopoaga’s real international career trajectory.

The truth is that Sopoaga may not have made the All Blacks squad this year had he stayed in New Zealand.

His place was under threat and he could see it. Coming up fast on the rails was Richie Mo’unga, a younger man and arguably a better player.

Trying to project 12 months ahead, Sopoaga would have been able to see that a year out from the World Cup, Mo’unga may have the more compelling case for inclusion.

With Beauden Barrett a cast-iron certainty and Damian McKenzie’s ability to play at fullback and change the pace and nature of any test off the bench, those two were always going to rank ahead of him.

The third first-five spot would be a head-to-head between Sopoaga and Mo’unga and so when Wasps came knocking early this year, the decision to leave wasn’t that hard.

With Wasps reportedly offering him about $1 million a season and his earnings likely to be about a third of that in New Zealand, he decided to go.

But Sopoaga’s attempts to suggest the All Blacks have generally lost their holding power are wrong.

Sopoaga’s attempts to suggest the All Blacks have lost their holding power are wrong.

If anything, the lure of the jersey has become greater, and the prevailing trend is for players not to walk out on their test careers early, but to commit for longer.

Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Tony Woodcock never lost their love of the jersey. Kieran Read is going to be here until the end of his career and Ben Smith has given the best of his years to New Zealand.

Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick will probably lock in until the 2023 World Cup, as will Barrett and maybe Aaron Smith, too.

Those who have confidence they are frontline All Blacks are willing to commit throughout their careers.

The All Blacks haven’t seen a firstchoice player leave prematurely in the last 10 years and that is perhaps the problem for fringe players such as Sopoaga.

The view from that middle tier of the playing base is different. Players there can see that their pathway to the starting team could be blocked.

They also know New Zealand’s system keeps producing and that seemingly in no time, there will be someone pushing up from below.

The more the top tier want to stay, the easier it becomes for the lower tier to be persuaded to leave.

Although Sopoaga may have sent the UK media into a frenzy with his claims that the floodgates are about to open and All Blacks will be flooding into Europe, back here neither his claims nor his departure have left much of an impression.

Every month or so the players New Zealand really want to keep announce they are staying and while there are predictions of doom and gloom about what the future looks like, the All Blacks are doing just fine.