Players need games, not be kept in cotton wool

TONY SMITH this weekend because they’ve got to catch a flight to Chicago for the All Blacks’ test against Ireland in 10 days’ time.

Coltman - who started the season as Otago’s captain - has been basically carrying tackle bags for the All Blacks for two months.

He asked if he could play for Otago in Friday’s championship final against North Harbour Otago’s biggest match for many years.

But Otago coach Cory Brown was told by All Blacks management that Coltman wasn’t available due to the risk of injury and the need for three days of recovery time in Chicago.

Barrett has been called up as cover for injured frontline locks Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick.

Canterbury coach Scott Robertson has accepted he won’t have Barrett for Saturday’s premiership final against the Tasman Makos.

Not surprisingly, given he’s the New Zealand under-20 coach, Robertson maintained a politically correct stance, saying: ‘‘The All Blacks come first.’’

Many New Zealand rugby coaches inwardly seethe at playing constant second fiddle to the All Blacks’ needs and wants.

Few have the fortitude to say so, publicly, lest it prove career suicide, but Brown has come out firing this week.

In a refreshingly honest front page interview with the Otago Daily Times, the younger brother of ex-All Black Tony Brown said Coltman’s cotton wooling was ‘‘disappointing and I find it hard to understand’’.

He said: ‘‘Liam has hardly played at all and would have loved to play the game for Otago... He is the sort of guy who would have done everything right, to play the game and then get on the plane in the right condition the next day.’’

Disappointingly, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen didn’t return a call to Brown, who spoke instead to forwards coach Mike Cron and manager Darren Shand.

The All Blacks may be New Zealand rugby’s cash cow - and the game in Chicago is all about money.

But Hansen and NZ Rugby boss Steve Tew should ask themselves the question: ‘‘Would the All Blacks be where they are today without a strong club and provincial rugby base?’’ Of course not. Coltman is a proud Otago man and would have been champing at the bit to play.

Barrett will be denied a chance to play alongside brother Jordie in the premiership showdown.

The All Blacks’ insistence seems a little precious given the uncapped Coltman is only the All Blacks’ third string hooker and is unlikely to play in Chicago.

Besides, the New Zealand Maori team will also be in the US, so Hansen could have called up hooker Ash Dixon, if necessary.

Barrett, at best, is likely to be only make the bench with Luke Romano and Patrick Tuipulotu slated to start if Retallick and Whitelock are out.

But Barrett’s reserve status isn’t a given - Hansen dispensed with a specialist lock reserve for the Bledisloe Cup test to carry two back-up back rowers.

This smacks of another example of the All Blacks cocking a snoot at grassroots rugby which they only use for their own needs.

So Cory Brown has good reason to be peeved.

It’s harder to sympathise with the Otago coach, however, after plucking ex-All Black hooker Andrew Hore from his farming gumboots to plug an injury gap in Otago’s front row.

Hore has been playing for Maniototo, mainly in the backrow, but the gnarly 38-year-old is more ancient than the Ancient Briton, Naseby’s watering hole.

Is calling on a player nearing his 40th birthday really the right signal in a competition aimed at developing the next generation of Super Rugby players?

Shouldn’t Brown have called up the Otago Colts’ hooker, or a club rugby rake instead?

Just as Robertson should have gone for a local option as halfback, instead of rugby mercenary Alby Mathewson, when he had an injury crisis earlier in the year.