Here is the recipe for today. First, take your basic ingredients: Bismarck du Plessis, Marcel van der Merwe, Juandré Kruger and Duane Vermeulen from South Africa, and Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbé and Facundo Isa from Argentina.
When they are available, add Bismarck’s brother Jannie, Samu Manoa and a generous spoonful of Georgian international forwards for extra flavour.
Now add the icing on the cake: Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Frans Steyn and Jan Serfontein from the Republic, Aaron Cruden, Ma’a Nonu and Luke McAlister from New Zealand, and Jesse Mogg and Joe Tomane from Australia. Toss in Malakai Fekitoa and Bryan Habana if you have them in your cupboard.
To finish, add some garnish from the Pacific Islands in the back three – Nemani Nadolo, Timoci Nagusa, Josua Tuisova and Semi Radradra.
Bake for 35 minutes and there you have it – your first ‘galactico’ confection. You can expect instant success when you unveil it at your next dinner party!
What do all the above Southern Hemisphere ‘names’ have in common? They were all in action for their two French clubs, Montpellier and Toulon, in the European Rugby Champions Cup (ERCC) over the weekend.
The only hitch was the dinner party was not the unqualified celebration it was supposed to be. Montpellier were beaten by Leinster at home and are out of the competition; Toulon lost to the Scarlets in South West Wales and scraped through to the knockout stages as one of the best losers.
Aled Davies celebrates Scarlets’ win over Toulon. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
With Montpellier currently sitting atop the French Top 14 league and Toulon having won three of the last five Champions Cup tournaments, it is unlikely that this is a conclusion their wealthy benefactors, Mourad Boudjellal and Mohed Altrad, would have envisaged when they ploughed their millions into the large-scale purchase of blue-chip Southern Hemisphere talent.
The foreign imports in the squads of their conquerors, Leinster and Scarlets, are far more modest. In West Wales, two ex-Bulls forwards whose services were no longer required in Super Rugby (Werner Kruger and David Bulbring), an ex-Canterbury winger (Johnny McNicholl) and an Australian sevens player (Paul Asquith). In Dublin, it was ex-Maori and Chiefs wingman James Lowe, second-string Hurricanes scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, and Wallaby international Scott Fardy, although he wasn’t playing on Saturday.
Of those players, only McNicholl and Fardy are nailed-on starters when everyone is fit and firing at their regions.
When the English and French clubs held the (then) Heineken Cup to ransom back in 2014, it was with a view to furthering their own financial interests.
In England, Premiership Rugby cut its own TV deal with BT Sports valued at £152m to include both domestic and European competition, Ligue Nationale de Rugby sold the European rights to BeIn sport in France, and between them, the clubs leveraged the right to organise the tournament themselves. Previously it had been run by the home unions.
They also increased their own representation in the cup from 12 out of 24 to 12 out of 20, while reducing the number of qualifiers from the Celtic-based Pro 12 league.
The tournament designed by the privately-owned English and French clubs was in essence protectionist, and in its first three years it achieved its aim. Ever since the takeover in 2014-2015, all three Champions Cup finals have been contested by English and French teams loaded with imported talent.
But now it appears the hypnotic Anglo-French cycle of buying success is in real danger of being broken. Three of the four group winners in this year’s tournament who have earned themselves home ties in the quarter-finals of the Cup are from the Pro 14. Only one English side scraped qualification via the back door, and that is the current champion Saracens.
All three of those Pro 14 teams are finding a way to win with an overwhelming base of home-grown talent and only minor additions from abroad.
Only four of Leinster’s 44-man senior squad are not currently IQPs (Ireland-qualified players – 91 per cent), and captain Isa Nacewa has been living and playing in Ireland for so long he qualifies as an honorary Irishman in any case (93 per cent).
At Scarlets, the ratio is 92 per cent, allowing for the return of international back-rower John Barclay to Scotland and second-rower Tadgh Beirne to Ireland at the start of next season. At Munster, all but one player in 44 are, or will become, an IQP (97 per cent).
The last great ‘galactico’ squad in Wales folded its hand when entrepreneur Mick Cuddy stepped down as managing director of Ospreys in 2012. The squad he built included Southern Hemisphere luminaries like Jerry Collins, Justin Marshall, Marty Holah, Filo Tiatia, Stefan Terblanche and George Stowers as well as Northern Hemisphere stalwarts like Irish winger Tommy Bowe and Nikki Walker of Scotland.
Since the collapse of private ownership in Wales, those household names have been replaced by ‘no names’ like Kieron Fonotia, Jeff Hassler and Dmitri Arhip, and all but six of the regular playing squad are Welsh-qualified. The drain on Southern Hemisphere manpower, at least among the Celtic nations, is somewhere between minimal and non-existent.
While Ireland offers a passable comparison to the super-efficient rugby ecosystem in New Zealand, Welsh rugby has been forced to go back to the future. It has experienced the traumatic failure of big private money and is now advancing beyond it. Its overseas choices tend to be few and far between and set well within tight budgetary constraints.
Its selection of overseas coaches is shrewd. There are no big coaching galaticos in Wales, but there are coaches below that level, like Kiwi Wayne Pivac at Scarlets, who are conscious of their responsibility to return Welsh rugby to its roots.
Ironically, Pivac preceded a galactico coach at the Auckland Blues back in the late 1990s, one Graham Henry, and now he is one of the positive forces at work dragging Welsh rugby out of the power-oriented Warren Gatland era. Alongside his influential assistant Stephen Jones – surely a Wales coach of the future – Pivac is helping engineer a return to a skill-based movement game, complete with breathless offloads and counter-attack from deep positions.
It is here the fusion of the two hemispheres appears to work best – not in the acquisition of star coaches or players in whose abilities all your hopes and aspirations are invested (Graham Henry was hailed as the “Great Redeemer” when he arrived in Wales), but in the steady production and contracting of home-grown talent, alongside more humble background assistance from the men in the south.
Perhaps the best illustration of this fusion at work occurred in the Round 5 ERCC encounter between English giants Bath and the Scarlets. Bath, coached by galactico New Zealander Todd Blackadder and his assistant Tabai Matson, were comprehensively undone by 35 points to 17 by a Scarlets side forced into an awkward late reshuffle in four backline positions, and missing some of their biggest names – including McNicholl and Lions man-of-the-series Jonathan Davies.
This is our template – the sort of spectacular try of which Wales were capable in their glory days back in the 1970s
In the early 70s, Wales were based around a nucleus of players from Llanelli (the core club for Scarlets) and London Welsh, so it is entirely appropriate that the counter-attack should be started by a London Welshman, Gerald Davies, and finished by the Scarlets maestro, outside-half Phil Bennett.
Now, let’s take a look at two of the Scarlets’ efforts a couple of weeks ago. Their first try came from a kick fielded by fullback Rhys Patchell back on their own 22-metre line.
The whole sequence lasted 50 seconds and featured 14 passes – including five by the forwards – and a massive seven offloads in contact. Here are some of the key moments:
Vision
The start point is a realisation – an understanding that attacking from your end in an unstructured situation presents a real opportunity, regardless of position on the field. As the camera shot widens, it is evident that there are only three Bath backs defending half the width of the field if the Scarlets can move the ball towards the far side within their own 22.
The defensive line-spacings are not easily manageable:
There is too much daylight between Jonathan Joseph and Ben Tapuai (gap one) and Tapuai and Matt Banahan (gap two), so Llanelli centre Hadleigh Parkes can pick his spot – eventually he chooses gap one. But it is the original offload in contact from the kick receiver Rhys Patchell and the long pass by second row David Bulbring which got the ball there.
Continuity
In the second phase of the attack, forwards play an essential role in continuity. If they cannot pass and make decisions, the attack is dead in the water.
In the clip, the other Scarlets second-rower, Tadhg Beirne, is acting halfback at the base and it is number six Aaron Shingler who spots the gap before offloading from the ground to Beirne’s second-row partner Bulbring. As a result of their actions, the tempo of the counter remains high and Bath don’t have a chance to reset their defence.
Finish
When Parkes gets his hands out of the tackle for a second time in the movement, the player on the end of the offload is none other than Beirne himself.
With Bath fullback Anthony Watson in front of him, instead of blundering straight into contact in time-honoured second-row tradition, Beirne produces a step off his right foot which is worthy of an outside back to add the finishing touch.
It would be wrong to present this try as a one-off. The Scarlets maintained this level of attacking performance throughout the first half, even when they were down to 14 men on a yellow card.
Their second try lasted for eleven phases and almost two minutes of possession with their number eight John Barclay off the field:
As in the first score, the Scarlets look for every opportunity to avoid allowing the defence to reset around the stopping point represented by a ruck, popping the ball off the deck and moving it on swiftly in contact.
The ball skills of their big men – Bulbring, Beirne and Shingler – are once again crucial to the tempo and continuity of play:
When the finish comes, it is delivered with precise handling performed right on the advantage line:
If the key Llanelli passer (no.15 Patchell) cannot attract the circled defender (Aled Brew), there will be no overlap to exploit on the touchline:
Patchell has to fix Brew in place and take a step out of his ability to drift out, and he can only achieve his aim by taking the ball to the line and making the pass in the teeth of the defence:
Summary
The success of teams from the Pro 14 in the pool stages of the European Champions Cup has given the lie to the story that you need Southern Hemisphere stars (either coaching or playing) in order to succeed.
None of Leinster, Munster or the Scarlets have any big-name players or coaches from the Southern Hemisphere – except maybe for Scott Fardy, who was no longer wanted by the Wallabies.
The Southerners in those regions are either absorbed as project players or fit around a firm policy of home growth. They provide a different IP but are there as much to learn about the game as they are to teach it – just ask James Lowe!
This model represents the true, sensible future for rugby union in terms of co-operation between the hemispheres.
It is no coincidence that the current Aviva Premiership champions, the Exeter Chiefs (the only club who are currently in the financial black in their league), also espouse a version of the same policy.
There were only two Southern Hemisphere players (Nic White and Lachie Turner) in their regular match-day 23 for ERCC pool games.
Organic, home-based growth is the only way forward for the game as a whole. Hopefully one of the Pro 14 sides will be able to nail that point to the mast indelibly by winning the whole thing when the tournament reaches its climax at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao on 11 May.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Gallagher had been accepted into the Metropolitan Police back in London and went out to New Zealand before his contract started to fill in a few months (he only had a 3 month tourist visa). A teammate in England had played for Oriental Rongotai, and knew they needed a kicking full-back. There was no system of scouts, just word of mouth. Similarly, New Zealand clubs were alerted to Martin Johnson's age group when they were successful in a schoolboy tournament in Australia. Don Bond got his visa, and The New Zealand police gave him an offer,. Why do you think he would have needed training police beforehand? Surely the New Zealand police force knew how to train new recruits. "Generally people who are born in a country normally want to represent their country of birth." How can you measure that? Most people born in a country only have the option of representing that country. The only time the question arises is when someone has an option to play for more than one. There are plenty of examples of players choosing to to represent a country other than their birth, and the reasons are varied. For instance, Naholo decided to be an All Black but didn't apply for New Zealand citizenship.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
I think Toua is better cast as a wing Fin, which is where he ended up latterly at the Brumbies...
Fin
Guest
Nick, Do you think Aidan Toua will be the Reds fullback now that Hunt has missed the entire pre-season and may not see his contract out?
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
Thanks Fin - I don't feel Quade's days at the top level are over by any means. The key decision he has to make is where he plays his footy next... Picking the right club (esp abroad) is an art in itself!
Fin
Guest
Hi Nick, Here's Campo's take on the Quade Cooper sutuation. Cooper returned to Brisbane last week after spending the summer training with All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams in New Zealand. With the Japanese Top League wrapping up earlier this month and Europe’s competitions in progress, Cooper will likely play club rugby in Brisbane for the time being as he continues to assess his options. Campese, one of rugby’s greatest all-time players and the Wallabies’ highest try scorer, said Cooper was the victim of coaches not being prepared to throw caution to the wind. You sense he sees a kindred free spirit in Cooper. “I saw on the Today Show teachers talking about kids — you’ve got to let the kids fail, you’ve got to let the kids try things,” Campese said. “If they climb a tree, let them fall. “I think sport’s very similar. “You’ve got to let guys try things and see how good they can be. “If you don’t allow them to be good, they’ll never succeed. “Quade’s a very good player. “Coaches hate flair because they can’t control flair, they can’t control it because you have no idea what he’s going to do when he gets out there. “He looks at a situation, he makes a decision and it’s like players around him don’t give him options. “When you have flair players, they’re creators, but the other players have got to learn — ‘if I give him an option it’s going to be very beneficial for both.’ “But they don’t know how to give options and I think that’s one of the reasons why he hasn’t been successful recently. “It’s not him that’s the problem, it’s the players around him that can’t understand him.” Campese, who earlier this month returned to Australia after spending a decade in South Africa, added that Cooper would have succeeded during his era, when Australia was the envy of the rugby world. “If he was around our era I think he would have been very successful because that’s how we played,” Campese said. “We had the Ellas — Gary, Glen and Mark, Australia’s brilliant playmaker — you had to try to think how to play the game, how to create. “The coaches these days are very different.”
Bluesfan
Guest
So let me understand this - John Gallagher just rocks up and becomes a NZ Police constable - did he even have to undergo training or did he just get put out on the streets of Wellington? I didn't realize that the NZ Rugby Union obviously had professional scouts in the UK in the early 80's identifying UK rugby talent and then sending them down to NZ - amazing that really especially considering that the game was amatuer and thus no financial inducements could be introduced. Your comment: "Almost every Pacific islander who qualifies for New Zealand wants to play for the All Blacks." I guess that means those people who are NZ born citizens or who arrived here as school children? Generally people who are born in a country normally want to represent their country of birth. NZ does not hold high moral ground, neither does Oz or SA - however when you have issues like the below arising 1. Grannygate 2. Situations where player state that they would prefer to play for another national team (Denny Solomona - NZ or Samoa, Nathan Hughes - Fiji, Uini Atonio -NZ), 3. Scottish National Squad composed of 20-30% of players qualified via a 3 year residency requirement or grandparent rule, 4. Irish Rugby having "Project Players"- attracting foreign talent to represent Ireland on the rugby field basis $. Rugby is now facing a situation where unions are effectively saying that if i can't produce the talent, I will just go and buy it and is that what you want to see on a rugby field representing your nation? Do you want: A team that represents their country/Culture e.g. AB's with their blend of Polynesian/European heritage representing NZ, SA representing multiple races - African/Dutch/English heritage etc. or A team that is filled out with foreign players with little or no links into that country and are purely playing as they are looking to maximize their income as professional rugby players e.g. Project Players I know which team I would prefer to represent my nation on the rugby field.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
Hello DavSA Noooooo, no antagonism at all. English is not my first language, so sometimes I can come through a bit clumsy and aggressive. And to me, you have never ever come through as anything other than a top bloke and a gentlemen. About the bar. I asked because I would love to have a local bar where the owner is total rugby head. If your bar was in Chiang Mai, I would be there all the time.
Derm
Roar Guru
They are. Check out Racing92.
DavSA
Guest
Ha Ha Poth Ale . My missus assures me that their names are not on their butts.
DavSA
Guest
NV I sense some antagonism from your comment and reviewed my own post and realised that it may have been a bit offensive. That was never my intention and only alluded to your understanding of football due to the fact that you are European . I fully apologize . I have huge respect for your knowledge of rugby and have in fact supported you often on this site.
DavSA
Guest
Howzit NV , Yes we do have "Bars" here . Do Sweden not have these things?
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
The reason to go back to Gallagher/Salmon/Johnson, is that's the last time New Zealand could make competitive offers to players of international quality in the North. Gallagher was on a break before joining the Met Police in London. First of all, his club chairman, Don Bond, arranged his visa. Quite easy for him to do, since he was Director of New Zealand Immigration Services. Then, for good measure, NZRU contacts lined him up with a police job in New Zealand. Johnson was one of several schoolboy rugby stars approached to go to New Zealand. A job was arranged for him too, when he looked like a handy prospect. That all sounds good to me.That's the way rugby used to work as a community. Professionalism means a visa, and a job to pay the rent won't wash any more. Also, with limited resources, the NZRU has an allocation challenge. At the last World Cup, a fair few members of the Tongan, Fijian and Samoan squads had played their first serious rugby in New Zealand. Few, however, were playing in NZ by the time the Cup came round: something like 76 were playing professional rugby in the North. Almost every Pacific islander who qualifies for New Zealand wants to play for the All Blacks. Aside from the honour, and vindication, the financial rewards of a NZRU contract are significant. However, players who just aren't going to make it, often still want a taste of international rugby, so they declare for one of the island teams. Could professional rugby in New Zealand give a living to 76 players who no longer qualified for the All Blacks? I'm not even talking about matching offers in the North, just offering ordinary local rates to these players at the appropriate level. It wouldn't work, because professional rugby resources in New Zealand are ultimately all geared towards the national side. I have a lot of sympathy with Southern hemisphere sides who can't plan as efficiently now because so much of the talent now plays overseas. However, I have no sympathy for anyone who wants to claim New Zealand occupy some moral high ground on the issue. I also have no sympathy for any demands to change this situation to suit New Zealand, without addressing how to grow the game internationally, to ensure that more players from more countries can enjoy professional careers.
Bluesfan
Guest
"The reason Gallagher, Salmon and Johnson are relevant, is that it demonstrates the NZRU has no qualms about using the incentives it has to hand when they can. " These players were playing in the Amatuer era - why not bring up Des O'Connor as well? How you use players from an age (Salmon capped in 1981 - 37 years ago) where they use to rock up 4 days before a test match and then compare to a professional environment e.g. they get paid to play, is beyond me. As for Fekotia, Naholo and Raikuna - well when 10% of your population are of Island descent - this will occur. If I recall Quade Cooper had a similar problem as he travelled on a NZ Passport. However last time I noticed, NZ were not recruiting Adult Professional Players, who already had a professional career in another country and then asked them to move 18,000 K's and then with tenuous links to represent their country. Of course there is a very simple way to stop this and negate all arguments and that is for NZ, Australian and SA to simply make their U20 sides their 2nd National team and thus any players who represent their countries respectively at that level, can then only represent them forever. However if this did occur - it would devastate the Tonga and Samoan teams in particular and the ethics of ring fencing 20 year old kids is extremely questionable.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
Auckland did alright in the 90's also and handled the move to professionalism better than anyone else at first, Then something went horribly wrong (or probably several things over a period of time), and here we are today.
Taylorman
Guest
Thieves on the night that’s how. Auckland were easily the best non test side in the 80’s but professionalism skinned them. There’s more Auckland raised rugby playing pro rugby and League outside of Auckland than any other city.
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
Hello DavSA How is life in your bar? (I remember correctly that you have a bar in the Republic?) I think you raise some fair points. But I am in the deep end here, my knowledge is thin despite that I have tried to do some solid research. But here is what I have "found": An overriding theme at all three provinces/franchises is that most young talent they bring in goes backward. And they also miss out on several young talents in their own backyard that not even a blind man could miss. Another thing that I hear repeatedly is that all three have a little bit too much "soccer" in their team culture; the boys seem to enjoy clubbing more than rucking.
DavSA
Guest
Dunno either NV . You can absolutely include the Bulls in that pool . I may have part of the answer by bringing in another sport , cricket into the debate. In cricket both South Africa and new Zealand generally punch above their weight . Both countries have only a fraction of the resources both player wise and financially than does Australia , England and India . When a potentially good young player is selected and does not initially perform the collective teams have no option but to hang tough with them . No one else really to step in. As a result talent is nurtured rather than taken for granted. In rugby terms the Lions would be a great example of making something from very little. Egos do not exist and you just have to make do with what you have . It does work. In a sport you will better understand , football, Leicester City and Iceland come to mind ...as does your own Sweden.
Derm
Roar Guru
Your wife is looking in the right place. That’s where their names are. Lol.
Derm
Roar Guru
What four U20 squads? What academies?
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
Thanks Fin, another very good example of multiple qualification, and not an uncommon one at all!