Comp deserves respect, not neglect
It’s vital to the future of the NZ game, so why isn’t anyone talking about the ITM Cup?
SOMETIMES I worry about our ITM Cup competition.
Not the quality of it, necessarily. More often than not, it produces damn fine rugby.
Or its ability to unearth future stars. It does that in the bucketloads.
Or its relevance. Because it’s got plenty of that too.
If I get anxious about anything around our national provincial competition, it’s New Zealand rugby – including the fans – continuing to understand and support the vital role it plays and therefore not taking it for granted.
Already there are worrying signs of apathy, if not neglect.
How many of you realise the ITM Cup starts in just 11 days’ time?
All the focus has been on Super Rugby and as of today, it will immediately move to the All Blacks and The Rugby Championship.
There is less media coverage than ever of domestic provincial rugby, and fans aren’t talking about the competition.
And that’s a shame because, in many ways, the competition is in a lot better shape now than it has been for a while.
The over-spending on players has stopped. And with it the ‘‘this-gun’s-for-hire’’ mercenary import era.
Most ITM Cup squads, if not all of them, are once again a genuine reflection of the local club competition. They play with pride and passion for their colours. But there are definite challenges. If you think coaching and playing at Super Rugby level is tough, try the ITM Cup. As opposed to two to three months of preparation time for Super Rugby, a domestic provincial squad is lucky to get two weeks to get ready. Nor is there any modern luxury like a week off before games.
We talk about the commitment needed to be a professional rugby player at Super Rugby level. Well, the commitment required at ITM Cup level isn’t far short of that either. Yet it has to be achieved with less resources, less spotlight and less support. And the expectations are still the same.
Coaches have 10 games and seven to eight weeks to make their mark. Players are the same.
Those short turnarounds create a survival mentality. There’s so little room for error and limited tolerance for failure. I’ve experienced what that’s like as a member of a coaching staff and it’s very, very difficult.
It’s obviously also not ideal, particularly in terms of developing coaches and players which is a critical reason why we need the ITM Cup to succeed.
It’s this and what seems to be a growing indifference to the competition that has me worried.
If we don’t show that we value the national domestic game and continue to invest in it, it will fade into the wilderness and New Zealand rugby will be poorer for it.
Combined with the increasing loss of middle-tier players and All Blacks overseas – I am talking about the Craig Clarkes, Rene Rangers and Hosea Gears – the indifference has the potential to erode a very important cog in our rugby talent conveyor belt.
When you lose so many of those middle-tier guys, it’s inevitable that there is a flow-on effect to the ITM Cup. There’s no easy answers on this one but one thing we must continue to do is ensure the competition retains its integrity and mana.
If it loses that value, players and fans will start questioning its purpose. The inspiration club players have to represent their province will start to die.
It must continue to be a stepping stone to Super Rugby but ensure it actually develops players so that when they are called up to that next level, they don’t immediately feel out of their depth. There’s a lot to like about the ITM Cup. And if you’re a club rugby fan, you need to remain a provincial fan as well and go to your team’s games. I look at the crowds I see at some club games and big first XV schoolboy matches and nobody can tell me those supporters aren’t around at ITM Cup level.
It’s time to appreciate this important little jewel in New Zealand rugby’s crown and not forget what we have.
I KNOW Ma’a Nonu reasonably well and I want to make a point I believe is being overlooked in this whole debate about his Super Rugby future.
And that is you can’t force people to be something they’re not.
I can’t speak for his time at the Hurricanes, or the Highlanders this season, because I wasn’t there.
But it’s unfortunate that Ma’a is gaining a stigma as a troublemaker because I never saw anything remotely resembling that last year when I was part of the coaching set-up at the Blues.
What I did see was a decent guy who genuinely wants to play as well as he can and help his franchise perform as strongly as possible. When he was there, he worked hard and he wanted success.
What I didn’t see was a natural born leader.
And therein lies the subtlety missing in this debate.
We expect our All Blacks to be leaders when they return to environments such as Super Rugby. But not all of them are. It doesn’t mean they are lesser rugby players than the ones who are. Or any lesser human beings. It’s just that they’re not natural leaders.
In Ma’s case, he is actually a very reserved individual, and in some cases shy. He didn’t want to be part of the leadership group at the Blues. He wanted to focus on playing, and I understood that. But it’s an attitude that can also be misinterpreted.
Somehow the line has become blurred around Ma’a in terms of public discussion. If he was performing well at Super Rugby level, this debate over whether he should be at the Hurricanes or wherever else wouldn’t even be happening.
I feel for him in the sense that during his career he has never really been in a franchise that was performing at the back end of Super Rugby, including the playoffs. The opportunity hasn’t been there for him to shine at this time of the year, in a Super Rugby environment anyway.
When you have high expectations of yourself, as All Blacks players do, you can get frustrated if it doesn’t come together.
It’s no issue for Ma’a when he’s in the All Blacks because they don’t under-perform.
But if you’re a Super Rugby franchise, you have to understand what makes Ma’a Nonu tick and not try and make him something he’s not.