Post-World Cup exodus is a ticking time bomb
With nine Super Rugby titles to their name, the Crusaders are indisputably the most successful team in Super Rugby history. The Cantabrians have always been a very proud franchise and, as a brand, boast a wide footprint both in New Zealand and across the world, which is amazing.
Under Robbie Deans they were unbelievably successful and Scott Robertson is enjoying similar success, having guided the Christchurch-based franchise to back-to-back Super Rugby titles. From the outside, it’s clear Robertson has brought an infectious energy and has assembled an excellent coaching team around him. Brad Mooar returns for his fourth year with the Crusaders in 2019 as an assistant coach. I got to know Brad, having worked with him for two weeks at the Sharks, and I was impressed by the simplicity with which he approached the game.
New Zealand coaches in general take
complex
Brad Mooar things and
simplify them. The loss of Brad – who will join Scarlets as head coach from next season – will be keenly felt by the Crusaders but the continued presence of Ronan O’Gara is a fillip for the franchise.
The Crusaders pride themselves on their history and the way they do things. When players like Richie McCaw and Kieran Read stay at a place for so long it underlines the value of the environment.
The same can be said for the culture created at Saracens, who have proved very competitive for 10 years. Those who started the project player-wise such as Owen Farrell, Jamie George, Jackson Wray and George Kruis, to name just a few, are central to the next generation coming through the ranks.
Senior players like Read and Owen Franks add immeasurable value to a team. It’s why the Bulls brought in 37-year-old hooker Schalk Brits and 32-yearold No 8 Duane Vermeulen this season.
Senior players like that make such an unbelievable difference to a team in terms of culture. It comes down to a way of doing things and a setting of the standards for players to follow at the franchise.
It’s inevitable that players will reach a stage in their careers where they end up having achieved everything they can reasonably expect to both for their club and their country, and that’s when they eye an overseas move. The skills, culture and brain drain after the 2019 World Cup is an inevitability.
Franks has signed for Northampton Saints and Read is set to further his career abroad. New Zealand is a great rugby nation and they produce amazing players. The powers that be keep saying ‘‘we will find the next one and the next one’’ but there will come a time when the player drain is too fast and the gap between young and senior players is too big. It’s one thing saying ‘‘let the players go’’ but at some point you can’t let players leave because your product is going to be watered down too much. In 1997 I was a World Cup winner, had reached a Currie Cup final and I was playing some of the best rugby of my career in my late 20s. Nick Mallett had recently taken over as Springboks coach and I wanted to know where I stood in the terms of the national pecking order.
I was told I was his fifthchoice outside centre, which was a very clear indication of where I stood because I was actually an inside centre. It was evident that I wasn’t rated in my country, so I made the decision to go overseas.
If only half of the rumoured departures were to come to pass it would still be deeply wounding to southern hemisphere rugby. The reality is that rugby in the northern hemisphere is taking off, whereas in the south, the Super Rugby competition is not what it used to be. Moreover, South African rugby is in financial crisis, there isn’t too much money in New Zealand and Australia can’t really compete financially.
However, in European rugby the talk is about bigger and better deals for players. Although the rugby is challenging in the UK, there are 22 rounds of matches in the Gallagher Premiership and for each of them, aside from a few fixtures which are further away, you spend almost every night of the week in your own bed. The comparison couldn’t be more pronounced in terms of fewer trips and the post-World Cup exodus is a ticking time bomb, which is set to explode.
* South African Brendan Venter is a 1995 Rugby World Cup winner and a former assistant coach of the Springboks.
‘‘Rugby in the northern hemisphere is taking off, whereas in the south, the Super Rugby competition is not what it used to be.’’