The words “World Cup” are stamped on page one of every New Zealand Super 15 handbook with the series overshadowed by All Blacks’ coach Graham Henry charged with producing a world champion side.
Player availability and highly-combative clashes when potential All Blacks are pitted against each other under the local derby flavour of the new Super format will inevitably dictate the fortunes of the New Zealand franchises.
The Canterbury Crusaders again start the Super series as the team with the best credentials, while the Wellington Hurricanes, Waikato Chiefs and Auckland Blues have the players to compete but a history that says they won’t.
But overriding their interests will be those of Henry and his World Cup masterplan as New Zealand seek to win rugby’s showpiece trophy for the first time since they won the inaugural tournament 24 years ago.
Four years back, Henry controversially pulled his leading All Blacks out of the first half of the then Super 14 series and though he does not intend being as extreme this time he does have a huge say on when his stars will appear.
“Our biggest challenge is that they’ve got to be reasonably sharp mentally coming into the World Cup and the Tri Nations prior,” Henry said following a meeting with the five Super 15 coaches.
“If they’re tired, it’s going to be very difficult. It’s keeping them fresh; it’s keeping on communicating with them and the Super 15 coaches to see how we can do that.”
This is tough on the non All Blacks for whom the Super 15 trophy is their holy grail.
In the Crusaders’ camp this means at times they will be without some of their galaxy of stars, who include Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Brad Thorn, Kieran Read, Owen and Ben Franks, Sam Whitelock and now Sonny Bill Williams.
It is expected the All Blacks will at least be spelled around bye weekends to give them a minimum of two two-week breaks during the competition.
Henry has also hinted that his blueprint for the World Cup will have a bearing on the style of rugby produced by the Super 15 sides, saying he will work with the coaches “to give them constant feedback on the way they’re playing and how we think they can improve their game.”
Then there is the injury toll as players eye a World Cup jersey, with a crucial vacancy to be Carter’s back up at number 10.
Of the leading contenders, Colin Slade broke his jaw in the Otago Highlanders’ pre-season game against the Blues, while Blues pivot Luke McAlister was knocked out playing the Chiefs, home of Carter’s incumbent backup Stephen Donald.
The most anticipated clash will come when the Crusaders play the Hurricanes, which lines Sonny Bill Williams and Robbie Fruean up against Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith.
All five squads have at least one past or present All Black wing fighting for a limited number of spots, and there is a similar battle among the locks where Ali Williams (Blues) returns after missing most of the past two years to challenge Thorn, Whitelock, Anthony Boric (Blues), Jason Eaton (Hurricanes) and Tom Donnelly (Highlanders).
Donnelly will miss the start of the season with a shoulder injury as will McCaw (foot) and Crusaders wing Zac Guildford (hamstring).
All Blacks captain McCaw was already scheduled to be rested for the first two weeks but will not now be available until round seven.
His injury will allow the Crusaders to trial two of the leading contenders to be his understudy, George Whitelock and Matt Todd.
Of the packed group behind the Crusaders most interest will be on the Hurricanes, who historically have always stumbled when winning mattered most.
The side, with 13 past and present All Blacks, is now coached by Mark Hammett, who served his apprenticeship under Robbie Deans and then Todd Blackadder at the Crusaders and has arrived in Wellington laden with Canterbury intellectual property.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
As a wallaby fan the 84 Grand slam and 86 tour of NZ stand out for me. Still couldn’t crack a win at the house of pain that tour however. Also even though it wasn’t strictly a tour, the 92 trip to RSA was special. All the talk coming out of the Republic along the lines of “you aren’t the real world champions until you beat us at home” was nice to silence!
Jerry
Guest
NH teams haven't really had a recent history of proper tours to NZ, even before professional rugby. Whereas some of the best memories I've got of test rugby are in series with SA and Aus - the 96 win in SA, the 92 Bledisloe etc.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
I was thinking have 1 NH team tour for a month in June, then play a home and away 3N. but I would be equally open to a proper month long tour to the republic of NZ or those teams come here. That is what makes the Lions tours so special IMO. they are still a proper tour and there is a whole festival feel about it.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
The average Australian doesn't care about rugby let alone where the sides come from, and even knowledgeable rugby fans are unaware that the old South Africa provinces no longer exist. I couldn't place all the NRL or AFL teams on a map, but if I paid attention to the commentary I'd get some idea of what's going on, and I don't think I'd presume to tell Australians what their sides should be called. All the casual fan needs to know is that one side is from Australia and the other is from New Zealand, because if they don't know that then it's a safe bet that they don't really know anything about rugby.
B-Rock
Roar Guru
You may be right but you may also be surprised at the impact of subtle changes like this - my point is that rugbys big advantage over league and AFL is its global reach - shouldnt the ARU/SANZAR/Fox/etc be reinforcing this wherever possible?
Jerry
Guest
Yeah, Australia was far worse for most of the amatuer era, but they'd well and truly emerged by the time rugby went pro. They'd been one of the top sides for at least 12 years and, while we'll never know for sure, I doubt they were gonna regress too much if rugby had stayed amateur.
Jerry
Guest
Well, having the TN every year doesn't leave much time (or demand) for an NZ tour of Aus or SA (or any other combo of those 3 sides) and the workload of Super Rugby, the International season and a full strength NPC isn't doable these days.
Jerry
Guest
Ok.
el gamba
Guest
Only to those that care.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
Oh give me the old school tour any day. I cannot understand how professionalism (being SR and 3N) and the tour are mutually exclusive.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
Apart from the 80s Australia was far worse in the Amateur period then in the Professional period I believe. I believe both Countries benefit immensely from the SR partnership and the 3N. However I think it would be NZ who would suffer the most without it.
Jerry
Guest
That's fair enough. It's mostly nostalgia - we remember the days of proper rugby tours and packed stadiums for the NPC. Professional rugby isn't all gravy, there's a lot not to like about it but if the alternative is all our players being in France, Japan and the UK it's not a very hard choice to make.
Jerry
Guest
Australia were in pretty much the same place they were prior to professionalism - saying they were ranked 5-6 in most of the amateur age ignores that they were considerably better than that from the mid 80's onwards. In fact, other than that golden period you've noted, for the most part Australia have probably been worse in the professional era than they were immediately prior. And I'd say they'd be considerably worse than you think without Super Rugby.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
Love hurts B-rock. Australia and NZ need to help each other to succeed in rugby. NZ needs our financial clout, while we need their match competition to develop our players to a higher standard. It annoys me when ignorant kiwis suggest NZ rugby would be better off not being in SR or without the Australian influence on the game.
Jason
Roar Guru
I sincerely doubt disinterested viewers really care what geographic location teams come from, let alone possessing the ability to point on a map where 'Jo’Burg' or 'Pretoria' actually is.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
Without professionalism and the money generated by Super rugby Australia would be at the standard of the European teams, i.e consistently ranked at about 5 or 6 in the world, like we were throughout most the amateur age, unlike in the professional era where we are consistently ranked in the top 3. Australia was the first country to get serious about professionalism and that is why the wallabies where so good 98 – 02.
B-Rock
Roar Guru
Ouch - your going to cop it for that one Jiggles... not untrue though Oz remains the major growth engine for SH rugby in terms of profits, with NZ and SA at capacity (#1 sport in capped markets). Growing rugby in Australia should be the #1 prority for SANZAR in order to maximise revenues and keep SH players playing in Super Rugby and for their national sides - this goes towards my comment above onincluding some mention of where each side is actually from rather than just generic names
Jerry
Guest
A team that flourished through natural talent in amateur day, but did not have the economy to develop the support infrastructure and advances in sport science needed to continue to produced professional who could compete with nations with much larger resources." Hmmm. Sooo, what's Australia's excuse?
B-Rock
Roar Guru
I understand where the Kiwis are coming from on this point but at the same time, something needs to be done about the generic names given for each team, particularly SA but also NZ - In order to grow the game, at least in Oz, to give foreign teams some context, it helps to provide a city/state/region which people can identify with. Having Lions vs Bulls on TV is meaningless to most of the Oz public - Jo'Burg vs Pretoria would be more meaningful for non SA-expats in Oz and reinforce that this is a global competition - its key advantage over league and AFL Maybe this is not an issue in NZ and SA as rugby is the #1 sport and even casual fans know exactly where each team is based within their own countries and most of the offshore sides. These teams also have a lot more history than Oz super rugby teams ex Tahs and Reds, so are less likely for Southland supporters to be happy with the Otago Highlanders than for a regional Victorian club to have the Melbourne Rebels. While I see the issues with naming regional teams, some progress on this would be a positive for the development of Oz rugby, and i suspect SA and NZ rugby too.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
Unfortunately for a Country like New Zealand, their economy is probably not strong enough to support a fully professional domestic competition by themselves that could counter the Euro. New Zealand produces some of the best rugby talent in the world, but all that talent would be in Europe playing for Toulon, Racing Metro and Sale instead of turning out for the Crusades in SR and Tasman in NPC. To be honest if it wasn’t for the evil Australian Media and Super rugby (which was the brainchild of News Ltd. Run by a bloke from Adelaide) New Zealand could of turned into the West Indies of professional Rugby, A team that flourished through natural talent in amateur day, but did not have the economy to develop the support infrastructure and advances in sport science needed to continue to produced professional who could compete with nations with much larger resources. That’s what you get when your nation’s biggest export is the scenery for a movie.