Force sign fourth Super playmaker

Re zhenry, my mistake.And yes,you are quite correct,although I don't agree with your assertion that "NZ could become a feeder" - we already are.

Richard my reply was for abfan, who I think is being remarkably gratuitous towards Tew. I have seen a lot of your comments and agree with much of it. With Tew in charge I can see NZ Rugby Union being utterly compromised for AU interests, I could go further and say that NZ could become a feeder for the Wallabies: Tews present actions are in that direction however there is much we can do before that to keep the ABs strong. The ABs tap into my childhood and my relationship with my father and they are especially important to me.

ZHenry,I was mainly referring to his re-appointment of Henry after the 2007 debacle.In fact,on most of your points,I couldn't agree more.I too, see nz rugby being compromised for the benefit of oz, that's why I said O'Neill manipulated Tew. I have voiced many of your views on other posts.

was Scott Bowen the last quality flyhalf they had? I'd say Rogers's stint at 10 was the best they have had since. Always thought the Tahs missed a trick by not giving Malone a go.

Tew must be your grandfather. Tew has allowed O’Neill to extend the clause that was to allow only Argentinean players into Super, to include NZ and SA. That’s alright for SA they have over 300,000 players and expanding all the time. NZ have only slightly more players than AU, albeit better catered for with competition. A disastrous move for NZ they need those players to keep the depth that the overseas drain provides. That movement of personnel includes coaches: which Tew attacked O’Neil for; trying to obtain Hammet, just after he had allowed Tew the extended clause! Mindless. Before that he allowed O’Neill to extend Super in AU; the player deal fits with it and to provide O’Neill with TV wallpaper coverage for our disadvantaged neighbour! Not disadvantaged at all, Tew is giving AU the advantage. AU coaches at the time were saying they don’t have a problem with player shortage they can take NZ players. No problem mate! Tew has organised this private operation of NZ Super franchises at 50/50 with NZRU. At the very least it should be 60/40: the problems of accessibility to players for the ABs is utterly compromised. Tew should be concentrating on the NZ Provincial Comp not aggrandising NZ Super sides with gratuitous private financial deals that will set up our NZ franchise to be taken over by overseas consortiums; AU mostly. Private equity for the provincial comp, but with the NZRU firmly in control. Super suites NZ at the Super12 level only, after that it gobbles up our Provincial Comp; both crowds and the playing time span: The present time span is suicidal for players, cramped in for O’Neill’s Super hit. Sure JON let us lie down for ya to walk all over us. Tew is not accommodating the NZ Provincial Unions at all. NZ needs a Heineken Cup type arrangement that suites NZ not AU. NZ needs to combine its Super and Provincial comps; that will certainly match with SA and when AU gets its local act together, it will match AU. But Tew is stripping NZ naked for AU, and he gets the full support of the mostly AU owned NZ media. Not only is Tew mindless but politically on a national scale. Snedden supervised the RWC it was business as usual for Tew. Crowds flocking to Super? It picked up from the year before, but that’s all. Super has always made a considerable loss and that continues. Super15 is such a crowd, money and time hog; Murdoch is the only winner. But NZ has the Provincial setup to prosper from both, the grassroots support for NZ Provincial teams is special and it is being ignored and murdered. When has AU helped NZ Rugby Union? Never! At every opportunity AU take NZ down: Look at the RECORD. Is Tew going to change that? No way, and he has this special relationship with the AU owned NZ media. How long has Tew been in charge for these sponsorship deals; it just might have something to so with the ABs winning the RWC. The international gate deal he did with England (outside the IRB) was a disgrace; England gets about 17 million and NZ 4 million. Tew should have a special advocate for negotiating with the IRB re increasing NZs share of the international gate, there is huge money to be had down this avenue. The ABs crowd pulling power play to 100,000 odd (can’t remember exactly) packed stadium in Italy and they don’t get a penny of it. Tew is a disaster.

The problem with nz cricket is the players don't have any history of performing.Other than a brief period with Richard Hadlee, I don't recall nz cricket doing anything.And it's even worse in this era, with the IPL, as players aren't overly fussed how they perform for the national team as they have IPL contracts to fall back on. The absence of nz's only real world class players in Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder shows just how big a joke nz cricket is.

From a financial perspecitve McCullum is probably better off, even though the black caps have struggled he rakes it in from the IPL, big bash and any other T20 contract he can land.

I see Sam Christie was a former New Zealand Schools representative. That's a good pedigree. I read just the other day that Dan Carter couldn't get in the South Island Schools team at flyhalf in his year. He was kept out of the team by Brendon McCallum, current New Zealand cricket captain. Maybe Brendon should have stuck with rugby.

Its great Sam has a contract its his living and we should not condem C.E.O. Tew for not doing enough to keep these players just for the sake of proping up New Zealand rugby 5 seasons with waikato not a bad record too have on your C.V. wish the bloke well maybe a selection for the national side is on the cards.

Sam Christie is the fifth and last spot on the EPS. Its a matter of depth. He will only be activated if the two other fly halves in the actual squad go down injured, and elevated if both out for more than a month. Given Godwin is 20yo and its his first season, its not a bad idea having a more mature person waiting in the wings as an emergency rather than a teenager. The Force has suffered from a dearth of playmakers since inception so having this cover is great. In the meantime Perth gets another quality player in the local club competition, which is generally considered A Good Thing. Sam Norton Knight is as far as I can tell a utility cover player. It looks like there are starters at 10 (Ebersohn and Godwin), 12 (Hayward and Teutara-Morrison) and 15 (Mafi and Dellit) in front of him, but he covers all three positions. He is mature and experienced. I have no problems with that at all. 3M could be a great acquisition, maybe even the best in our history. However we are not dependent on him, we are covered in all his roles 4 6 8. If he comes good and stays fit its a luxury the Force have not had previously, and could make the already excellent loose backs fearsome. KPM time to get off your anti Foley high horse, its becoming tiresome. What you have to understand is the Force is not and never will be the Warratahs with all their inbuilt schisms and powerplays. Foley has been recruited for a specific task and given full board backing and every resource to accomplish that task - rebuilding the program. He is NOT talking or acting in any way similar to last year at the Tahs. Perhaps you should look into the environment under which he operated with HQ hooray harrys, nepotism and entitled player egos. Every and I mean EVERY indication coming from pre-season is Foley is building a thoroughly professional rugby playing program designed for sustainalbe success rather than instant gratification, his assistants Meehan Chook and Stiles are drilling the troops, and captain Hodgo has gathered all the elements and the players together into a harmonious whole. Hodgo is developing into a club legend.

Not Foley, the Waratahs in general. Especially when it comes to flyhalves. The Waratahs - proudly destroying talented young flyhalves since 1984.

I'm with you ABF, I just don't like the rather fluid eligibility rules,is all.You only have to look at the example of Ben Botica,who arrived in the UK a little over a year ago, plying his trade there, and now being talked up as a possible England international.I have absolutely no problem with players plying their trade in other countries, if they can't secure contracts in their own.It is a professional sport,and they have to make a living.But I draw the line at then being able to play for another country. I'm with you on some of Tew's achievments, but have felt that he was too easily manipulated by O'Neill ( who was only doing what was best for Aus. rugby).To me, Tew's greatest achiement to date was overseeing the reappointment of G.Henry after the 2007 WC debacle.While there seemed to be a gnashing of teeth with Deans going to coach the wb's,I was definitely in the Henry camp.Tew showed great leadership when taking all factors into account,along with the players endorsement of Henry when making the AB appointment at the end of '07. Having said all that,I don't envy him his job.Trying to keep nz rugby at the top, with all the commercial pressures i.e player retention,sponsorship deals etc shows he's making a reasonable fist of it, but there's always room for improvement.

rl Foley is the biggest wrecker of young Australian talent Super rugby has ever seen!

agree - if SNK is anywhere near this starting side then its a sad indictment on Foley's ability to work with some very promising young talent. And as much as I'd like to see MMM go well, I'm worried.

richard, do youthink so? I can't tell. Tew just secured a big sponsorship deal with AIG and has been negotiating with other big-name companies in Europe ie Range Rover, that watch maker Sauer (??). He oversaw a successful RWC hosting campaign and saw his team win it, crowds are flocking back to Super rugby, he's proven to be accommodative in his dealings with domestic unions regarding the ITM Cup, he's overseen the professionalism of the Sevens game as they gear up for the Olympics, he's taking on the IRB in regards to advertising restrictions, he's helping Aust players by allowing NZ players to join Super rugby (I can explain further on this), he's allowing NZ domestic unions (as small as they are) to reach out to help developing rugby nations like Brazil, Georgia, Portugal while not forgetting his Island neighbours and he does a monthly video blog on the NZRU website. Just saying is all

Would be interesting to know how many kiwis that oz super rugby sides have signed up in the off seaon.And of course they will have to be eligible for the wb's.O'Neill did a real number on that muppet Steve Tew.

Sam norton knight. Fit to carry the drinks and thats about it... -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].

Can SNK really be considered as depth ? ... The bloke was average at the tahs and by all accounts poor up north - I'd say more a gamble along with MMM

Huh ? .... He's a kiwi who has been playing in the NPC - who has now got a gig in a Aust SR side ... All this again displays is the lack of depth of Aust rugby - yet that's spun into Aust needs more SR teams - crazy

Billy Bob I agree: a teenager who dabbles in both codes is not anyone's exactly although of course there are those who have gone through traditional paths and so my be more or less lost i.e. Australian schoolboys. However in the case of a young player such as Inglis was, 21 and obviously phenomenal, a mid-sized top-up for a short period i.e. 1-2 years would have returned much more than the expenditure in terms of publicity and promotion of the code, and boosting of its desirability. So it would have made sense, as it would with future youthful stars produced by the NRl such as Will Hopoate.