Assault on two fronts
Money is only one reason why NZR offered improved terms for Black Ferns early this year. The RFU has now followed suit.
But Aotearoa faces competition that doesn’t affect England in the same way. It’s a double-pronged attack, from NRLW in Australia and the new Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) in the USA.
This worry concerns the speedsters above all. There are only twenty 7s contracts on offer in NZ, and the Paris Olympics come next year. The temptation for many is to move abroad to seek financial reward rather than to commit to the Super Aupiki (four franchises only) and the still less than professional Farah Palmer Cup.
This is a relatively new concern in NZ rugby; till recently few players have sought career advancement beyond home shores.
Please Miss, what’s Rugby League?
The more immediate threat comes from Australia’s strange preference for Rugby League. The NRLW is spreading its wings, which, with full TV backing, will be able to offer increasingly tempting terms to the pick of Kiwi talent.
We have only to read the opening hype on its website to see what New Zealand Rugby is up against:
‘NRLW is home to some of the world’s most elite, powerful and passionate athletes. Their peak physical condition is what makes the game so damn unmissable. And also what makes it so far above everything else. Showcasing they’re in a league of their own,’
I for one have never before seen the word ‘most’ inserted in front of ‘elite’. I live and I learn.
Carys Dallinger showed the way. Denied a new Ferns contract she opted to cross the Tasman and play in the NRLW. Then Cheyelle Robins-Reti followed suit for the same reason. Next it was Tyla Nathan-Wong for different reasons: she was a player nearer the end of a distinguished career. NZR gave its blessing.
Now efforts are in hand to re-establish The Warriors, a New Zealand-based component of the NRLW, which was set up in 2018 with them as one of just four teams. Post-Covid the competition has mushroomed in size.
Professional Sevens
In the USA the PR7s initiative needs all the boosts it can get, so having names like Ruby Tui or Portia Woodman-Wickliffe on the billboards would help sell tickets.
Last month PR7s quoted NZR as saying that Stacey Waaka, Manaia Nuku, Tysha Ikenasio and Kelsey Teneti will all be joining in.
Cory Sweeney, head coach of Black Ferns 7s, supports the players’ switch to the USA. The HSBC World Series leaves large dollops of empty time between tournaments. So long as he can be sure all his players return in time for high-tempo training, he is happy. Allan Bunting is left hoping against hope. He has named no fewer than nine debutants in his latest Ferns’ squad.
The Eastern Conference kicks off in Austin, Texas on 17 June; the Western in Minneapolis on 24 June.
Two against One
Together, these two operations cause concern for NZR and Allan Bunting in particular. Theresa Fitzpatrick, Woodman-Wickliffe and Stacey Fluhler are not taking part in the Pacific 4s.
The Black Ferns have inbuilt advantages, some longer lasting than others: their name, their history, their honours board and their recent retention of the RWC. Then WXV1 comes calling in a few months time. View that as a mouth-watering mini World Cup. But money talks.
A decisive factor here is Kiwi contracts. If the 7s versions are few and sternly fought for, the 15s are more plentiful, 34. But 7s attracts one well-defined type of player, so Bunting is anxious to ensure that he can replace any star absences with adequate alternatives. The sort of game that Sir Wayne Smith foregrounded in the RWC depends largely on the skills that Rugby League covets.
If the NRLW succeeds in its long-term strategy, countries outside NZ night find it hard to sympathise with Bunting’s travails.
