Not much gold on show now

Rugby may be celebrating the arrival of golden point.

But where are the golden players? Where is the golden rugby?

The clash between the Chiefs and Highlanders was only an alleged thriller. It was actually a kick-festival led by a flood of up-and-unders and the usual onslaught of penalty calls.

The Chiefs were on a bit of a roll. The depleted Highlanders had caused one of the great boilovers in Super Rugby history, trouncing the champion Crusaders in Christchurch.

Unfortunately, the game on Saturday night promised so much more than it delivered. The amount of kicking was a shock.

Running rugby was pretty much limited to kick chasing. Virtually nobody found any space to run in. The skills were often atrocious when half-gaps were found. Attacking fluency? There was none.

The one-on-one tackling is now so good that half-breaks are about as good as rugby often gets.

I've seen one potential rising All Black great this year — the alreadyestablished Crusaders hooker Codie Taylor is playing sublime football. At this rate, he could end up in the pantheon, alongside Sean Fitzpatrick, Keven Mealamu and Co.

Crusaders outside back Will Jordan might be something special.

But where is the next Cullen, Lomu, Kirwan, Brooke, Jones, Kaino, Shelford, Carter, Nonu, Retallick, Whitelock, McCaw or Read?

What I see is a load of foot soldiers, supplied by the corporate rugby system. They try to deal with the rules before the rules deal to them.

In the old parlance, in the days of long tours, they would have been potential midweek All Blacks who turn out against teams with names like North West Province.

Then there are the over-hyped Super Rugby rookies who show a bit of spice one week, and grind to a halt the next.

A snazzy tiebreaker didn't hide that. Golden point is a misnomer, because you can't score a single point in rugby. It's a smokescreen for a sport flailing as it tries to be modern and exciting.

The historic Chiefs-Highlanders extra-time action was mildly interesting. It added some tension, and the chance for the Chiefs to pile on top of Damian McKenzie after he kicked a long winner. Sudden death does allow rugby players to express total jubilation.

But in a sport of so many marginal penalty calls and grey areas, it is also a cheap-shot way to decide a round robin result in what should be promoted as a premier professional competition.