ABs reaping benefits of Kiwi system
4 Oct 2012
JON CARDINELLI writes the All Blacks avoid mass injuries and burnout because the NZRU manages the country’s top players accordingly. Why can’t Saru do the same?
A good question was asked of All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster this week. Why is it that the All Blacks seem to sustain fewer injuries than their Australian and South African counterparts?
Why is it that we are now into month 10 of the 2012 rugby season and the All Blacks aren’t missing key players because of injury and fatigue?
‘We do it differently,’ was Foster’s curt reply. ‘And I’m not going to tell you exactly what that entails.’
Foster doesn’t have to, it’s no big secret. The New Zealand Rugby Union has long looked after its most prized assets, that is its players.
Through a central-contracting system, it ensure that the cream of the crop don’t play too much rugby during the Super Rugby competition. The national team is viewed as the priority, and to compromise the success of that national team wouldn’t make much sense. Right?
Unfortunately, there is a different outlook in South Africa.
Every union and franchise looks after its own interests. Top players are contracted to a union as well as to Saru.
What this means is that a franchise has the option to start a Bok player in every Super Rugby game. Ultimately it is the franchise’s success that matters most to the franchise, not the success of the Boks.
It’s for this reason that we have players who arrive for Bok duty overplayed and fatigued. For example, Andries Bekker has long been considered indispensable to the Stormers’ Super Rugby cause, and has started the majority of the matches over the past three seasons. That workload has taken its toll on his body, and injuries have prevented him from playing more games for his country.
There are other examples across all of the South African franchises, and the point is that if South Africa employed the same system as New Zealand, the Boks may have more fit players available for the most important period of the season, that is the Rugby Championship.
The current system has been a handicap to every Springbok coach in the professional era. The system rewards the franchises when it should be geared towards propelling the Boks to that No 1 ranking. It is something that incumbent coach Heyneke Meyer has also made note of on several occasions.
On Wednesday, Meyer pointed to the example of Richie McCaw, the All Blacks captain and veteran who will enjoy a six-month sabbatical next season. This course of action will prolong McCaw’s career, and possibly allow him to play at the 2015 World Cup.
The NZRU keeps tabs on all of the All Blacks throughout the Super Rugby season, and ensures that nobody is overplayed before they join the national set-up for the June Tests or the Rugby Championship.
It’s been an intense season, the most congested in history, and still the All Blacks were able to produce their best performance of the year in Argentina. They are now in South Africa preparing for a physically taxing clash against the Boks on the Highveld, and still there is a sense that they are favourites. Why?
‘New Zealand manages their players very well,’ Meyer said on Wednesday when probed on the subject. ‘You can see what’s been done with Richie McCaw, and there are overall not as many injuries. Everybody seems to be working towards a common goal.’
Keeping players fresh allows for continuity in selection, and as Meyer suggests the All Blacks were able to win the 2011 World Cup because of that continuity. There aren’t as many injury disruptions because the NZRU is doing everything it can to prevent burnout and fatigue-related injuries.
Every South African franchise is chasing results and trophies, and every team is inclined to believe that the more they play their best players, the better their chances of achieving those lofty objectives.
And in that unfortunately all too real scenario, the national team is the biggest loser.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Johannesburg
425 Comments
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4 Oct 2012, 10:58 am
@race of tan-73: And i suspect Bekkers injuries are more closely related to his freakish physique and poor conditioning to cater for it rather than being overplayed.
4 Oct 2012, 10:59 am
@poppa69-90:
You’ve just had it easy this year. The Springboks and Aussie team have been below par and the Argies were good , but never a real threat.
4 Oct 2012, 10:59 am
@Brads-80:
the rugby championship i can deal with….it’s the inbound tours and end of year that really annoy me.
if you had a rugby championship every 4 years with, say only 4-5 tests in the inbetween years…..we could have a return to “tours”. Your 4-5 tests could be in the form of a Lions tour or a proper grandslam or,etc,etc
Basically, fewer games of far more interest not neccessarliy a complaint at the rugby championship per se but the entire international rugby playing model.
or, as i said,( in the current format) keep playing any number of “test matches” every year…but lets just write them off as “friendlies” then , so the coach can select any number of nobies just for a look and feel because I see no reason why franchises who fight for a players signature, invest heavily in the player, once he reaches the required level of performance….suddenly the International coach gets to cherry pick him or rest him !!! and the franchise is suddenly not entitled to a return on their investment?!?!?!
the current business model that is being discussed would not work in any other open and competitive market. And,as I said in the beginning, the only reason that the Kiwis survive doing things the way they do is because they get a fair share of financial divedends via the sanzar agreement for superrugby.
4 Oct 2012, 11:00 am
@flanka-3:
Pure common sense. Bashing and bashing. Something gotta give in, simple as that. I t is not sustainable. That is what you get from donkey rugby. Insanity if you ask me.
4 Oct 2012, 11:00 am
poppa69 – I meant the old one. And don’t say it didn’t matter coz Dan Carter was clearly upset that the Boks won the last ever test to be played there, similar to Germany getting the last shout at the old wembley(football) stadium!!!
4 Oct 2012, 11:01 am
come .b a s t a r d s banned words stop censoring me or ill have to call legion to DDoS this site
4 Oct 2012, 11:02 am
@wp_boytjie-102: nah, we’ve just been better, plain and simple.. even when we’ve been poor we’ve been able to win games, sign of a great team.. if we lose this weekend, no shame in it at all, 1 from 16 is a stat I dont think any kiwi would be upset with
the rest is just fancy window dressing to hide the dust gathering in the corner..
4 Oct 2012, 11:03 am
@flanka-101:
exactly correct….bekker hardly ever plays. Hell, he had a near enough 7 month break before superrugby as he did not make the worldcup. Even in superrugby he missed more than enough games through injury. And it has been like that almost every season. In fact, I fail to see how he can even still be considered “full time”.
In any other operational business…..he’d be considered “Casual”…no work-no pay.
4 Oct 2012, 11:03 am
flanka #101 – Becuase Bok rugby is played very hard and straight, our players do need to be managed.
How come this year many of the Bok top players started breaking down?
Those extended S15 home derby games are frightening, am not too sure what it is like in NZ or OZ but the SA S15 teams go out to kill one another!!
4 Oct 2012, 11:04 am
@Peter Mkata-104: its why richie mcaw will play till he is 40 and schalk only played till 28
4 Oct 2012, 11:04 am
@Transformation-15:
LOL. You and Tacitus are like twins who love to hate each other.
4 Oct 2012, 11:04 am
@race of tan-105: we let you guys win that one, and in return we then decided we’d win the first EVER test at Soccer city..
we are the spiritual guardians of the game after all, it is our duty to make sure all other nations have their moments too..
(by the way, we were never officially thanked for 95, is it in the mail? )
4 Oct 2012, 11:06 am
Peter Mkata – Agreed. SA rugby is very straight and hard and takes it toll eventually.
Look at Joost(motor skill syndrome), Andre Venter is in a wheel chair, Ruben Kruger had brain surgury, Krynauw Otto as well. Those men where Bok legends but played into the ground!!
I have just made myself sad, merde!!!
4 Oct 2012, 11:07 am
@Brigadier Van Zyl-108: bekker makes his best plays on the bench, just dont tell Mrs bekker
4 Oct 2012, 11:08 am
@Peter Mkata-111: More like neighbors.
4 Oct 2012, 11:08 am
@flanka-45: part of this debate jake got into in 2006 when he complained about where his identified players were being fielded by unions…this is what meyer is wishing for and has been hinting at even in terms of playing style.
White wants more control
This entry was posted on Monday, July 17th, 2006
Jake White’s latest gripe is with the lack of control he has over Vodacom Super 14 franchises in this country, and how it affects the Springboks.
The fact that he has no say of who plays where in terms of both position and franchise is, as he says, to the detriment of the national game.
“Things can’t work if the Springbok flyhalf plays fullback for his franchise, the openside flank plays on the blindside, the inside centre at outside centre and the props are played out of position too,” White told the media in Wellington.
White used the systems in place in New Zealand as a example to illustrate his point. The Kiwis have had a stronghold on Super Rugby since it’s inception in 1996, and have also dominated the international game for over a decade.
“So we must be crazy not to see the benefits in their system, from which they are getting a lot more return than us,” said White.
“New Zealand contract all their top players. So when players like Mils Muiliaina and Byron Kelleher are told to move to another franchise, they become better players and New Zealand get more competitive teams.
“Every decision is based on the good of the All Blacks team.”
4 Oct 2012, 11:10 am
@rangerman-77:
hello Ranger yes it was a big night, you all set for Saturday you seem very confident which is good to see?
4 Oct 2012, 11:12 am
@race of tan-113:@race of tan-113: with motor skill syndrome he should have been swept up by an F1 team ages ago
4 Oct 2012, 11:13 am
@poppa69-107:
Yea you have been better by a mile , but even your team is a long way off from the squad of 2005,2006 that could change an entire 15 and still smash any northern hemisphere team by 40 points. If Aussies have Pocock , Genia , Cooper and Horwill firing next year and we have one year behind us as a new team things can be a lot different. But for now yea enjoy your purple patch i guess
4 Oct 2012, 11:13 am
@poppa69-90:
Poppa, post that after the match on Saturday. LOL.
4 Oct 2012, 11:14 am
Transformation – England has the same problem as we do which is why when Woodward got in he managed to get more control over his top players and reaped the rewards!!
Am not sure if SA will ever change! Too stuck in provincialism!
4 Oct 2012, 11:14 am
@poppa69-112:
How many points will we take them by Pops?
4 Oct 2012, 11:15 am
@race of tan-113: One has to wonder, hey?
4 Oct 2012, 11:15 am
saru1983 – What is that disease called then that Joost has? It affects a persons motor skills i.e. co-ordination!!
4 Oct 2012, 11:20 am
motor neuron i think
4 Oct 2012, 11:24 am
@Peter Mkata-120:
Not much has changed.
Thats an in house joke amongst the kiwis of keo.
If you didnt know we were told we had a kak rugby team…posted by Keo before the 2010 3 nations.
Now we all know how that turned out.
Some of these clowns on here jumped at it saying the boks shouldnt even leave the plane until we get better…..then oh what the word am i looking for……its a famous word….. thats right….BOOOOOOOMMMMMM.
Back on the plane tail between there legs and keo fans doing the usual…refs…poaches…we cheat.
4 Oct 2012, 11:25 am
@Transformation-116: their central communist system will be the death of them – no sane investor wants to invest into their franchises because the NZRU wants to appoint the coaches and hold the player contracts.
SARU has to be brave and break the 49% limit on the franchises then you will see how the kiwis and convicts get left behind.
4 Oct 2012, 11:26 am
@Transformation-116: Mate, I see the point you’re trying to make but what I’m saying is that the centralized system isn’t as ‘communist’ or controlling as people think. The NZRU don’t just hold players on strings and organise who goes to which franchise. They’re still fiercely independent franchises with moves made that don’t necessarily benefit the all blacks. I’ll give you examples…
Nonu moving from Canes to Blues was down to personality clashes with Hammett. It didn’t benefit NZ having Nonu move. In many peoples eyes it weakened the canes midfield and caused his mate Weepu to follow him which also wasn;t ideal (Weepu was a popular local boy in wellington who formed a core part of the leadership group). Weepu moving to Blues virtually ended Alby Matthewsons career making him call time on NZ and move to the Force (next season)…this again was detrimental to NZRU. SBW leaving Saders for Chiefs was purely based on him wanting to be closer to family and having enough of the drama in Christchurch and left them with a big midfield void which clearly showed this season.
Most ABs are stacked in the Crusaders and Chiefs and there’s never a re-distribution of wealth to ‘share the love’ or ‘balance things out’. My point- we are putting way too much emphasis on the centralization system and normally we only have a whinge when something goes wrong i.e bad run of injuries, or jake white throwing his toys out the cott coz of sharks wanting john smit to play prop instead of hooker etc…..it’s an overrated system.
4 Oct 2012, 11:27 am
@saru1983-125: probably got it snorting bath salts from a man *****’s panties.
keo better be careful
4 Oct 2012, 11:29 am
@Peter Mkata-120: are you going to be wearing black in Soweto on saturday?
uzakubethwa uphambane eKasi
4 Oct 2012, 11:30 am
@Transformation-116: And while I disagree with a lot of things Tac writes I certainly agree that socialism in the pro age isn’t fair. Lions had wealthy backers and are based in south africa’s richest city but due to poor business management they’ve made a hash of their union…so why should an organised union like The Bulls have to suffer for their mismanagement?
4 Oct 2012, 11:31 am
Peter Mkata. hope you are well bru. just a bit of fun
NZinChina. u say we take them by 14. allowing them some Kate points to make it respectable
Hurri. wasn’t that a grand dose of karma
4 Oct 2012, 11:32 am
farken predictive text.
4 Oct 2012, 11:42 am
Hope nobody has posted this yet. Nice article.
Brenden Nel – SuperSport
Johannesburg – Despite the fact that the Springboks dominated the All Blacks in Dunedin, former All Black flyhalf and discarded Lions backline coach Carlos Spencer has predicted the world champions will “destroy” the Boks this weekend in their Rugby Championship clash at FNB Stadium.
According to the supersport.com website, Spencer, who was fired as Lions backline coach, told Fairfax Media that the world champions will put matters back in perspective this weekend with a match that will bring Bok fans crashing down to earth.
The former All Black believes Australia were so bad in their five-try defeat at the hands of the Boks at Loftus that the All Blacks would show the Boks just how out of touch with reality they are.
“The Springboks obviously needed a good win but the Aussie weren’t great. I think the All Blacks will destroy them this week,” Spencer said.
“It will be a big confidence booster for the Springboks. There was a lot of pressure on them over here in terms of their last couple of efforts. They played some good rugby at times and didn’t kick away as much ball as they had previously. That’s definitely a step in the right direction for them.
“But they are going to come up against a better defence this week. If they can hold the ball for long periods and not kick it away they’ll be in with a chance, but the All Blacks will be too good for them.”
Spencer believes the fact the All Blacks have claimed the Rugby Championship already will allow them to play with a freedom seldom seen and will lift the tension of the occasion and motivate them more.
New Zealand have won 15 consecutive games thus far, within sight of the 17 which is the world-record for tier one nations.
“They’ve already got the trophy in the bag so they can go out there and express themselves with no pressure to win it,” he said.
“I’ve been in that situation before with the Blues when you’ve already secured a semi-final spot. You never go out there to give 90 percent.
“You always want to win the last game.
“It will make the trip home a lot better. They won’t be relaxing just because they’ve won the tournament. It would be a disappointing way to end the competition if they were to lose this week. They’ll be fired up, hungry and aiming to destroy them.”
Spencer also told the website he would stay on in Johannesburg, taking up a sports promotional job and keeping his two young children in the country, but after being fired “via email” by the Lions, did not want to get back into coaching.
“They cut Mitch (John Mitchell) and I was next. It’s just one of those things. People get fired every day. It’s time to move on and try something different,” Spencer added.
“It would have been nice for the CEO or president to tell me face-to-face. It was a cowardly way to do it.”
“I just saw it as an opportunity to finally get out of rugby,” Spencer said.
“Coaching for me was never a long-term thing. It was something to do once I hung up the boots. It’s just probably happened a little bit sooner than I thought.”
Despite losing his job at the Lions, Spencer hopes they will become a force again.
“Speaking to the people in Joberg they can’t believe it. The richest city in South Africa isn’t going to have a team in Super Rugby,” he said.
“There’s a lot of disappointment around. It might make them wake up and change a few things so they can get back where they deserve to be.”
4 Oct 2012, 11:47 am
@flanka-128: it is certainly not flawless but it has its poistives or intended outcomes like when dagg moved from highlanders to crusaders where he is now a well rounded world class player. when that deal happened the NZRU moved colin slade to the highlanders so he can get first bite at flyhalf and not sit behind dan carter while he had been identified as his no.1 back up at the All Blacks…he got injured a lot and the plan didn’t come off but the intentions were well meant and for the benefit of the all blacks.
you are talking about supposed losses for the “crusaders midfield” and “hurricanes side” – those aren’t the all blacks!
most of the decisions are made for the benefit of the all blacks (bokke) and not the bulls, cheetahs or sharks…
4 Oct 2012, 11:48 am
@Transformation-130:
Ukuba bendingahambi ne nkosikazi bendizakuyinxiba. Qha ndicingela yena Xhego kweza njubaqa emva kwe-klipdrifts. Uyazi mos imeko yalama Dlagusha.
4 Oct 2012, 11:48 am
@Peter Mkata-134: seen it, izolo
4 Oct 2012, 11:48 am
@Peter Mkata-136: hahahaha uligwala
4 Oct 2012, 11:51 am
@flanka-131: imagine the consternation if SARU had to take players from the Bulls to augment the Kings in a “socialist” centralised contracting system
whooooooweeeeee
4 Oct 2012, 11:51 am
@Transformation-116: White was spot-on, the entire NZ rugby system is geared towards one team. It’s little wonder they go crazy when they lose.
4 Oct 2012, 11:56 am
@Big Hit-140:
and most of us think they are nuts enough when they win….
4 Oct 2012, 11:57 am
@Transformation-135: It doesnt take a centralized system to make some of those common sense moves. In a free market players are still entitled to work out for themselves if there’s a player ahead of them who might jeopardise their chances of gametime and hence bok selection. We dont need SARU to make those common sense decisions. And if a player is greedy/dumb enough to move to a bigger union for the money and see his gametime dwindle because of that (which we can name quite a few examples of) then thats their own idiotic choice.
Theres a very small number of arguments to support centralization…one or 2 odd cases like John Smit prop fiasco/Frans Steyn in his early years positional fiasco/Ruan Pienaar in his early years positional fiasco….and maybe the odd season like this year where we’re hit by a number of injuries, but by and large we don’tneed it. Sensationalism by JC.
4 Oct 2012, 11:57 am
Peter Mkata #134 – Carlos sounds very bitter!! However i hope he’s wrong, (merde) that is the last thing the Boks need right now, to get womped by the ABs!!
I can’t see it somehow, if we loose it will be closer than pops thinks!!
4 Oct 2012, 11:58 am
And nonsense for Meyer to use Sir Richie as an example when he’s virtually treated like the Prime Minister
4 Oct 2012, 11:59 am
@Transformation-116:
Thats one of your favourite cut and paste.
You’ve used it a few times.
4 Oct 2012, 12:00 pm
@Brads-51:
Chop..its history if it happened in the past..only difference is where YOU decide to draw the line..now please grow a brain before commenting again.
4 Oct 2012, 12:03 pm
Not entirely convinced of this being behind the ABs success.
ABs still have their fair share if injuries and from what I can see, only McCaw and Carter are really properly ‘managed’.
There may be the odd case of rotating and resting some players within the NZ franchises but not to the same degree as those 2 players.
This happens to a degree in SA as well, except maybe the Stormers. Little wonder the only Bok player with real fatigue related injuries comes from there. (Cough, Bekker.)
Besides, it could never work in SA scenario. Provincialism is too deeply rooted in the publics mindset.
Not saying that is a good or bad thing, just commenting.
4 Oct 2012, 12:04 pm
@rangerman-23: If you didn’t notice him on the field you can’t have been watching the game. He made 15 tackles vs 23 for your whole starting back row. He also made more metres than any other forward on the field – 41m vs 66m for your back row combined. Did he get man of the match?
Richie and Dan are in great form so we can’t drop them but they will break down by 2015 unfortunately. Unfortunately Hansen will be forced to give Cane and Cruden a lot of game time but it won’t be enough come RWC
4 Oct 2012, 12:05 pm
@poppa69-90:
You can go FK yourself shiiite for brains
4 Oct 2012, 12:10 pm
Gonzo McCaw always gets owned when he plays SA, great try he scored the last time he played at Soccer city, can you remember who owned him that night?
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