Skipping England test right call for players

Gregor Paul comment The All Blacks won’t play England in November this year and while it might seem like an opportunity lost, it’s the right outcome.

It always felt conflicted and contradictory given New Zealand has been a champion of player welfare for much of the professional age and campaigned hard to build a longer offseason.

Their reasons for wanting to shoehorn another brutal game into an already packed schedule were understandable — New Zealand Rugby faces a constant battle of bringing in enough money to keep players here and the All Blacks on top of the world while not overcommitting the very brand from which all their commercial clout comes.

Playing against the Barbarians was the perfect compromise. It was a chance to tuck a wad of cash into the coffers while giving a younger, emerging group of players a solid outing in the jersey. Two boxes ticked.

Had England been able to hijack the process by dangling a big enough financial carrot, NZR would have weakened its position on player welfare.

Since 2012, the All Blacks have had to play seven tests in the last nine weeks of the season — a run of games that takes them round the world twice and through 17 time zones and takes the players to the brink of their physical capacity.

Coach Steve Hansen told the NZR board this week the All Blacks crawled over the line last year.

If a deal had been reached to play England, the cynics could have had a field day suggesting the value NZR puts on player welfare is the difference between what England and the Barbarians offered.

Hansen’s preference was to play the Barbarians and these extra games always work best when the coaches come out happier than the accountants.

Next year, then, will most likely see the All Blacks tag on an extra test again — but not necessarily against a tier one nation. In 2014, they agreed to play the United States in Chicago before taking on England, Scotland and Wales.

They saw that run as similar to the one they would face at the World Cup — a final pool game against a tier two nation and then three tough knockout games.

The World Cup draw for 2019 will be made later this year and that might dictate how the All Blacks set up their November tour in 2018.

If they are given a hard, final pool game in the draw, maybe they will look to replicate that by playing a revenue-sharing game against a tier one nation in November next year, before taking on England and two others that haven’t yet been revealed.