Heat on NZ Rugby to deliver
New Zealand Rugby may have secretly wished its feet would be held to the fire before it revealed its plans for an All Blacks XV this week.
If so, it was disappointed. Burned toes? Hardly. Not even a blister.
It seems that when many people learned about the latest extension to the All Blacks brand they just shrugged their shoulders and returned to the daily grind.
Perhaps NZ Rugby was disappointed by the timid response.
Because if there had been an outcry, it would have proved members of the New Zealand rugby tribe still cared deeply about the All Blacks brand.
That’s not to say they don’t. But it seems it doesn’t mean as much. It’s been diluted, and there’s no going back.
After all, we already have the All Blacks Sevens, Ma¯ ori All Blacks and the Junior All Blacks – with the latter to be replaced by the All Blacks XV. The Rubicon was crossed when the All Blacks Sevens name was revealed in 2012.
There is an acceptance that NZ Rugby needs to use the All Blacks brand to secure commercial deals, and promote itself in the big markets in the northern hemisphere, if it wants to stay afloat and keep pouring money into all levels of the game at home.
The World Rugby Sevens Series has been a useful vehicle for this. Wherever the All Blacks Sevens go, they fly the flag for the brand. It’s highly likely that even the most casual of fans who attend these tournaments around the globe would be aware of the team from New Zealand.
That’s the power of the All Blacks. Never mind that this is just a rip-off, of sorts, of the Real McCoy.
Try being a Kiwi and explaining to some folks that the seven-man crew are not the ‘‘real’’ All Blacks. It can take some time. And, frankly, some of them don’t care anyway.
They just want to get their hands on merchandise with a silver fern on it. In doing so, they immediately became a walking advertisement for the organisation Down Under.
So now an All Blacks XV has been added to the NZ Rugby menu. The official word is that this squad will be a ‘‘second tier’’ team, and comprise New Zealand’s ‘‘next best’’ players.
A coach has yet to be appointed. You would assume Crusaders coach Scott Robertson, who was short-listed for the All Blacks job after the World Cup, was up for this.
The size of the squad has also yet to be confirmed.
All we know is that the team will play three games in late October and early November. The first opponent will be Fiji in Vancouver. The other two have yet to be named.
NZ Rugby chief rugby officer Nigel Cass is on the record as saying the best players possible, outside of the All Blacks, will be selected for the All Blacks XV team.
Good. There’s no going back on this. Let’s hope the NZ Rugby board members ensure this policy is not abused.
Before the game turned professional in 1996 the All Blacks regularly left for tours of South Africa or the northern hemisphere, playing games against provincial, county or invitational sides.
They were not tests, and therefore caps were not awarded. Yet those players were regarded as All Blacks. The same should never be said for the members of the All Blacks XV.
The All Blacks XV selectors, whoever they will be (and maybe All Blacks coach Ian Foster will want to be on this panel), have a responsibility to get this right.
This squad should be bursting with men who are hammering at the door of the All Blacks’ selectors.
New Zealand rugby supporters don’t like the ‘‘All Blacks’’ title being used so liberally, but are realists.
Yet there’s a way of adding a sweetener to this bad medicine. Give this team the respect it deserves. Go with the best players, and coaches, on offer. Don’t make it a development tour, crammed full of youngsters picked on potential only.
We don’t want smoke and mirrors from NZ Rugby. Be genuine. And this team must win.
That, also, must be nonnegotiable.