Strength could be exposed as weakness
What’s been lost in the fight for control of Super Rugby is that there is much more at stake than money.
Seeing the world exclusively through an economic prism is a postCovid-19 lockdown phenomenon that is proving hard to break and one that could lead to a misguided decision about what’s best for professional club rugby in this country.
Finance is a primary concern on whether Super Rugby Aotearoa is sustainable. But it’s not the only question, and what can’t be overlooked is a need for diversity of style and a wider base of rugby intelligence and vision to be involved in the competition next year.
Super Rugby Aotearoa was an outstanding success — intense, compelling, tough, fast, highly skilled and dramatic. It had everything that makes rugby watchable but its greatest strength will in time be exposed as its biggest weakness.
New Zealand’s five teams play in a broadly similar way. They hold broadly similar views on how to attack and how to defend, and while homogenisation created intrigue and flowing contests in 2020, in time, the lack of diversity will come to stifle growth and innovation. That will impact the ability of the All Blacks on the international stage.
There are great coaching minds across the country, clever thinkers and strategists, but most had a largely similar rugby upbringing which will have shaped their core philosophies and ideas about how to play.
Leon MacDonald, Aaron Mauger and Scott Robertson all emerged from the Crusaders — essentially under the coaching of Robbie Deans.
They were granted a world-class rugby education but it also means 60 per cent of New Zealand’s Super Rugby teams have a head coach whose thinking and understanding of the game has been shaped by the same regime.
The variation offered by South
African and Australian teams, as well as the Sunwolves and Jaguares, required New Zealand’s sides to evolve and innovate.
It had some impact in advancing the skill set of New Zealand’s players, requiring them to rethink how to attack and defend.
Rugby is a global game, and to dominate the world stage, New Zealand’s best players can’t be developed in an insular world where the rugby they constantly play is, however dynamic and intense, ultimately one-dimensional.
For now, the rest of the world is in awe about the quality of Super Rugby Aotearoa. But a cautionary note has to be struck to remind everyone not to believe New Zealand has some kind of exclusive rights to all rugby intelligence.
This question of diversity has to be paramount in the planning for next year. However uncertain the future and however determined NZR is to dictate terms to Australia, somehow 2021 has to contain at least one, preferably two and ideally three teams who bring vastly different visions about how to play the game.