Stars come at a premium again dash in from the backfield and put teammates in space with effortless ease. Smith would no doubt love nothing more than to run out under the Dunedin roof for the openinground match on June 13 against the Chiefs. But in Smit
Why we’re unlikely to see Bender at the Highlanders: Clubs face massive insurance costs for returning ABs
Super Rugby’s return to New Zealand brings confusion over why some returning stars re-committed to local teams but others have not.
Nehe Milner-Skudder and Sam Whitelock are back for the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition, starting next month.
Brodie Retallick, Waisake Naholo, Ben Smith and Ryan Crotty are among others back in the country, too, but not expected to suit up. And while not seeking a New Zealand contract until next season, Julian Savea has announced intentions to return from France.
Why can’t all players returning from lucrative excursions to the safe havens of home be swiftly ushered into the five franchises to immediately enhance the quality of the derby competition?
As usual money, or in this case, insurance, is the bottom line. The
Herald understands insurance costs are in the tens of thousands for each player contracted abroad. These agreements can take months to negotiate, even for a 10-week competition.
Romanticism strikes at the heart of Smith returning from France to
Zealand franchise, or switching to the Warriors from next year.
Other high-profile All Blacks such as Retallick, Smith, Naholo and Crotty have longer-term deals to fulfil abroad.
Smith is understood to be under contract to join Retallick and Aaron Cruden at Wayne Smith’s dominant Japanese Kobe Steel side as direct import replacements for Dan Carter and Andy Ellis.
The insurance costs associated with covering the salaries of existing contracts such as Ben Smith’s — and Naholo’s at London Irish — is significant.
Outside his salary, the Chiefs are understood to have paid $12,000 in insurance to cover Cruden’s Kobe contract.
New Zealand Super Rugby franchises, many of whom are now making redundancies and struggling to pay their venue and wage bills, don’t have the capital to splurge on insurance
costs.
From a risk perspective, there is no upside for Naholo or Smith to re-join their beloved Highlanders.
Late additions to New Zealand squads, including Milner-Skudder and Whitelock, for the Aotearoa competition stand to earn $1800 a week — pittance compared to deals abroad which frequently nudge the $1 million per-season mark.
Cruden’s case is different again in that he has been ensconced in the Chiefs squad since the start of the season, with his wage factored into pre-Christmas budgets. He then only needed approval from Kobe to extend his stay in Hamilton.
Chiefs chief executive Michael Collins confirmed the insurance complications facing returning players.
“The onus is on the Super Rugby club to insure them so if they get injured during our competition it won’t affect their contract with the club they’re going to next.
“It’s quite hard to insure these players. There’s not many providers around the world. In fact, when we went through the exercise to cover Aaron negotiating the deal was fairly straightforward but it probably took six to eight weeks to negotiate the insurance policy.”