THOSE WHO GOT AWAY
NEW ZEALAND DOES PRETTY WELL AT KEEPING THE PLAYERS IT WANTS. BUT EVERY NOW AND AGAIN SOME GOOD ONES SLIP AWAY OFFSHORE. WE LOOK AT 10 MEN WHO PROBABLY ENDED UP GIVING THEIR BEST YEARS TO FOREIGN CLUBS.
10 AARON MAUGER [CRUSADERS 2000-2007 // LEICESTER 2007-2010]
Rugby was becoming increasingly physical throughout the 2000s and that made it hard for cerebral players such as Aaron Mauger to have his skill-set fully appreciated.
He was a gifted ball player and decision-maker who saw space and opportunity across the field from his preferred role as a No 12.
He was the sort of player that good No 10s loved playing next to as his communication was excellent and so too his ability to push himself into the first receiver role if required.
But for all his gifts, it was apparent that by 2005, the All Blacks weren’t sold on his o ering. While Mauger won 46 test caps, they were starting to dry up and even though he was only 26 in April 2007, he decided to take an o er from Leicester.
Mauger could see he was falling out of favour and that the coaching sta were keen on more muscular players at No 12.
It was a shock that he opted to leave and in truth the Tigers got four great years out of him before a back injury forced him to retire prematurely. Mauger was the sort of player who could have been invaluable for New Zealand between 2008 and 2011..
09 MIKE HARRIS [NORTH HARBOUR 2007-2010 // REDS 2011-2014 // REBELS 2015-2016 // WALLABIES 2012-]
The Blues have long been renowned for missing out on picking good players who had been developed within their region.
But their failure to realise what they had in Mike Harris was a bad one. He had been a good operator for North Harbour and looked well equipped to be the answer to the Blues problems at No 10.
They didn’t think so, though. And nor did any other New Zealand franchise, which was a surprise.
The upshot was that after three years of playing his heart out in provincial rugby, Harris couldn’t win a Super Rugby contract in New Zealand.
The Reds couldn’t believe their luck and snapped him up – knowing he came with the bonus of having an Australian passport as he was born there.
Within a season, Harris was picked by the Wallabies. Australian rugby admired his skills, composure and general contribution and for five seasons, he was one of the most respected players there.
He went on to win 10 caps, before he joined Lyon last year earning their praise.
“He is an excellent goal-kicker, a good creator, and is capable of playing at 10, 12 or 15,” said Lyon general manager Pierre Mignoni.
“He plays very well at either fly-half or inside centre and that, coupled with his kicking game, gives us a lot of interesting possibilities and a lot of options of the field.”
08 TONY MARSH [BLUES 1996-1997 // CRUSADERS 1998 // CLERMONT 1998-2007]
Tony Marsh was a solid midfield option for Counties in the 1990s. A straight runner with good distribution. He was also a handy defender.
But while he made the Blues in 1996, he couldn’t get on the field with them much and the same was mostly true when he transferred to the Crusaders in 1998. He was a bench man or an occasional player, but game time was hard to come by.
So when the chance to play in France came up – for good money – he took it. He was coming on 27 and he perhaps felt that he didn’t have much time left to leave a career footprint.
He got that wrong. He settled quickly at the Clermont club and became a local hero. He was a regular starter – his direct running at centre having huge appeal. Clermont were suddenly back in the big time – challenging for silverware – and many linked that to Marsh’s arrival.
Certainly French coach Bernard Laporte did because as soon as Marsh was eligible, he was called into the national squad. He would go on to win 21 test caps, before finally retiring in 2007 as one of the greatest players in Clermont’s history.
A journeyman in New Zealand, he was a major star in France.
07 UINI ATONIO [COUNTIES 2010-2011 // LA ROCHELLE 2011-]
Born in Timaru, Uini Atonio shifted to Auckland when he was young and attended the world famous Wesley College.
It was there that he learned rugby and used his enormous physique to become a useful front-row forward.
Once he left school, he was picked to play for Samoa Under 20s and from that he won a contract to play for Counties who could see, that if he was fitter and leaner, he had plenty of potential.
But getting Atonio fitter wasn’t so easy. Counties had him in 2010 and 2011 but never managed to get much out of him. His weight sat around the 150kg mark and he wasn’t mobile enough to be e ective.
French club La Rochelle, who were in the French second division, were happy enough to take a punt on him and Atonio shifted there.
The lifestyle suited him. He got himself fitter and La Rochelle began to improve. The better they got, the better Atonio became and amazingly, after three seasons, the club were in the Top 14 and Atonio was picked by France.
“I lost a contract with Counties Manukau. I just wasn’t cutting the slack and I was working on the side as well as playing rugby,” he said when he was promoted to the French team.
“I had a good job so I didn’t really take it seriously until my contract with Counties got terminated. So I looked at other options and France was one of them. Second division. I was like ‘if it is bringing in the money and it is looking after my family then that is good’.”
He’s now a regular in the French national squad and a cult hero at La Rochelle, who were leading the French championship at the time of going to print.
06 CHRIS MASOE [HURRICANES 2002-2008 // CASTRES 2008-2011 // TOULON 2012-2015 // RACING 92 2016-]
The truth of the matter is this – the All Blacks coaches wrongly thought Chris Masoe had nothing left by 2008.
They had taken Masoe to the World Cup in 2007 and he was one of the players brought o the bench in the quarterfinal and failed to make any impact. It was as if a long term judgement was made about him based on those 20 minutes.
He was 29 and told, in e ect, that he had no future in New Zealand. It happened suddenly and without much love so, of course, he took the opportunity to head to Europe as soon as he could.
The All Blacks coach of the day, Graham Henry, took a sort of ’no biggie’ approach, that suggested he thought Masoe would be all but forgotten in a few months.
But what happened was that Masoe found a second career wind. He became one of the most respected and sought after players in France.
He was a bruising, ball carrying, ball winning loose forward who could play across the back row.
He turned Castres into a titlecontending club and in 2012 was voted, at 33, as France’s player of the year.
That earned him a new, huge money deal to join Toulon, who he helped to win both the European Cup and Top 14.
Racing 92 were so impressed that they lured him away from Toulon last year with another huge o er, despite the fact he was 36.
05 SITIVENI SIVIVATU [CHIEFS 2004-2011 // CLERMONT 2011-2014 // CASTRES 2014-2016]
When Sitiveni Sivivatu signed with Clermont in 2011, he had little confidence he had much left to o er.
He was 28 and felt that his body had endured too much for him to continue playing on the wing at the highest level.
“There’s too many injuries happening to my body and I only have a couple of seasons left to enjoy with my family overseas,” the Chiefs and All Blacks star winger said.
Most people agreed with him. But the truth was entirely di erent. He was an immediate sensation in Clermont and French rugby fell in love with him. He was seen as one of the best wings in the competition and Clermont extended his contract.
He didn’t lose any pace, used his vision incredibly well and continued to score tries and make them.
He was so good, that even at 34, Castres made him a huge o er. He took it, played another two good seasons for them and is now on their coachi ng sta .
04 COLIN SLADE [CRUSADERS 2009-2010 // HIGHLANDERS 2011-2013 // CRUSADERS 2014-2015 // PAU 2015-]
Just how good a player Colin Slade was didn’t start to become clear until 2014. He’d made an impact before then, for sure, but it was in 2014 that he came of age.
Slade had been a Crusaders regular since 2009 – playing fullback, wing and first-five. The latter was his preferred role but his game time was limited given the presence of one Daniel Carter.
But Slade managed to impress as a utility back – one who could goalkick – and that earned him a place in the 2011 World Cup squad.
His big moment came when Carter was ruled out before the knockout rounds with a major injury. But Slade su ered the same fate in the quarterfinal. Worse was to come – he badly broke his ankle and leg in early 2012 and didn’t recover properly, really, until 2014.
That was the year he blossomed and he showed his pace, awareness, bravery and all round touches of class. He proved he was a hugely gifted footballer who was a great addition to the All Blacks squad.
But his versatility, while a weapon, was also a problem as it meant he was destined to be a bench man so when Pau made him a huge o er he took it.
“From [purely a rugby point of view] an outsider would probably think it’s a silly decision to leave now, but I have weighed up every factor,” Slade said. “You just never know when these deals are going to come up – this is a good club in a good part of the world. It was just something I couldn’t pass up.”
At 27, he was lost to the game in New Zealand.
03 CARL HAYMAN HIGHLANDERSHIGHLAND 1999-2007 // NEWCASTLE 2007-2010 // TOULON 2010-2015]
There was no doubt in the minds of the All Blacks coaches that Carl Hayman had potential to be one of the great props of the modern era.
By early 2007, they felt he was the best tighthead in world rugby and because he was still in his mid 20s, his potential to dominate the game was enormous.
But Hayman was struggling with the demands of being an All Black. He’d won his first cap in 2000 and had lived with the media and public intrusion since. Constantly being in focus wasn’t his thing.
He was happiest on the farm, away from the scrutiny and free to do his own thing. So he shocked everyone ahead of the World Cup that year when he signed a contract to play for English club Newcastle.
The All Blacks coaches knew they had lost something special. Hayman would be giving, arguably, his best years to a team other than the All Blacks.
“His services will be sorely missed,” All Blacks coach Graham Henry said. “We put the very best possible o er in front of Carl and we are grateful that he gave it serious consideration.
“I think Carl would like to get out of the international spotlight for a while and sees this move as the best way to extend his time in the game.”
And so it proved. Hayman became the hottest property in European rugby and after he finished his stint with Newcastle, he was signed by Toulon as one of the highest paid players in the world.
02 NICK EVANS [HIGHLANDERS 2004-2007 // BLUES 2008 // HARLEQUINS 2008-]
English club Harlequins have no doubt that Nick Evans is the best signing they ever made. The former All Black joined them in 2008 when he was 27 and eight seasons later, Evans was still holding a first team spot and was still viewed as one of the best No 10s in Europe.
New Zealand wanted to keep him. He had genuine pace, was capable at fullback, could kick well and was in many ways an earlier version of Beauden Barrett.
He was one of the best players for the All Blacks at the 2007 World Cup and they saw a long term future for him. But Evans could see that Daniel Carter was going to start ahead of him at No 10, and he didn’t fancy being confined to the bench for the rest of his days.
So he signed with Harlequins and at 35 he remains a class act. So much so, that the English club have been willing to pay more and more to keep him – fending o an o er from a Japanese club in 2013.
“There is not a player, supporter or coach in the game in England, let alone Harlequins, who will not be delighted that Nick Evans has agreed to stay with us for another three years,” said Conor O’Shea, the Harlequins director of rugby. “The Aviva Premiership wants the best players playing in it and Nick is one of the very best.”
01 CHARLES PIUTAU [BLUES 2012-2015 // WASPS 2015-2016 // ULSTER 2016-]
At the start of 2015, 23-year-old Charles Piutau began talks to extend his New Zealand Rugby Union contract for another two years. He’d been a member of the 2011 New Zealand Under 20 team that had won the Junior World Championship and made his Super Rugby debut the following year before winning his first cap in 2013.
By the end of 2013 he was playing so well on the wing that the All Blacks picked him to start ahead of the likes of Cory Jane.
He missed much of 2014 due to a knee injury but recovered by the end of the year to again tour with the All Blacks and show his pace and agility.
His future was assured in New Zealand. Everyone could see his talent and that he had a work ethic to back it up. He had the potential to become a long term All Black. Maybe even an All Black legend given he’d looked so assured and potent in his test appearances to date.
He signed his new deal, but before it was returned to the NZRU, a huge o er came in from Ulster and one of the game’s most promising players was lost to the national cause. It was a hard blow for the NZRU to absorb – they genuinely struggled to believe that Piutau had opted to give up on test football when he clearly had so much left to give.
Rubbing salt into that wound is the impact Piutau has had in Europe. He’s been a sensation over there, nominated as one of the players of the year and earning this accolade from Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac: “He’s a confident player and he brings quite a lot. He is a complete player really. A player like that can put a couple of thousand bums on seats.”