NPC no magic rugby bullet
New Zealand’s rugby powerbrokers have a firm message for the romantics yearning for a return to the good old days postCovid and already penning the obituary of Super Rugby as we know it.
It goes something like this: All options are on the table in unprecedented times but if you believe the NPC is the solution to anyone’s financial woes, then it’s best you think again.
NZ Rugby board chairman Brent Impey has made it clear that he does not see a souped-up, All Blacks-laden national provincial championship – a likelihood for this year with test rugby problematic, to say the least – as the magic bullet for any of the problems emerging out of the coronavirus sporting shutdown.
But he does believe this period, in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic that has crippled the world, presents a glorious chance for a ‘‘rugby re-set’’.
‘‘I think it’s a total re-set,’’ said Impey of the road ahead. ‘‘Some of you have been writing ‘let’s go back to a traditional NPC’. Is that really the answer? I’d look far more that this is an opportunity for a total re-set, whether it’s community, secondary school, first
XV, provincial, professional or international rugby.
‘‘How about looking forward and saying what are the actual opportunities that are going to arise and how can we get this game into a position to first of all be stabilised, then grow?’’
But Impey had also noted NZ Rugby was in ‘‘survival mode’’ after Thursday’s annual meeting had predicted a potential 70 per cent loss of revenue for the current financial year which would see the organisation digging deep into its $93 million of reserves.
‘‘We’re in a totally new era and I don’t think anything we’ve had in the past operates as a foundation for what we’re going to do in the future,’’ he warned.
‘‘As a board we’re approaching it as this is fresh thinking, no idea is a bad idea and this is golden opportunity to set rugby up for the future.’’
And chief executive Mark Robinson has also reaffirmed NZ Rugby’s commitment to the Sanzaar alliance and firmly distanced his organisation from reports out of an ever-hopeful Australia that a permanent transTasman breakaway is imminent.
As has been reported ad nauseam in recent weeks, New Zealand’s rugby return will be via a 10-week, two-round Kiwi Super Rugby competition which will take firmer shape once the Government moves the country to level two of the Covid-19 restrictions and some form of training is allowed. Border restrictions and a gloomy outlook for international travel in 2020 make that a near certainty.
It’s understood that at level two restricted training will be permissible, but physical contact will not be allowed until level one, which could push any competition start dates out a little.
Similar competitions are expected to be established in Australia and South Africa around their existing Super Rugby sides.
Beyond that it’s highly likely the top-end New Zealand season will progress into the Mitre 10 Cup provincial competition which should see All Blacks, and potentially some Japan-based players, scattered around the teams.
Other one-off events such as a North-South match and an All Blacks trial are also being pencilled in, depending on what may or may not be possible at the international level.
Impey also clarified a report in The Australian newspaper, based on a conversation with his Australian counterpart Paul McLean, that New Zealand Rugby was resigned to Super Rugby in its existing form being dead, and saw a trans-Tasman competition as the best way ahead.
‘‘He rang me around issues relating to World Rugby and we discussed the short term,’’ said Impey. ‘‘That was 2020. I expressed a view I couldn’t see any likelihood of international travel in the Super Rugby season. That was a personal view based on what I knew around alert level three and two. The way it read in The Australian, the short term seemed to have a much wider definition.’’ Though there are synergies around a trans-Tasman Super competition, including the possibility of a travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia, Robinson confirmed South Africa and Argentina are very much part of the alliance.
‘‘We see all Sanzaar partners as critical here,’’ said the chief executive. ‘‘We’ve got a very close relationship with South Africa that’s been beneficial on the commercial and performance front for a long time. Our people enjoy and respect each other.
‘‘All options are potentially available. What cross-border, club and international rugby looks like is still on the table. Sure, there is conjecture around the impact Covid will have but for 2021 and beyond it’s still incredibly early days to be drawing too many conclusions. ‘‘They’re valued partners and we’ll need to work through this quickly because the horizon of next year is fast approaching. Nothing is pre-determined.’’
‘‘We’re in a totally new era and I don’t think anything we’ve had in the past operates as a foundation for what we’re going to do in the future. As a board we’re approaching it as this is fresh thinking, no idea is a bad idea.’’ New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey