“It is time now to rip up the master plan – if indeed there is such a thing — and start again with this dismal franchise which hasn’t so much lost the way, as the plot”

Enough already! The Highlanders can be allowed to stink out the basement of Super rugby no longer. It is time for action, not words.

It is time now to rip up the master plan – if indeed there is such a thing — and start again with this dismal franchise which hasn’t so much lost the way, as the plot. And put every rugby-loving soul south of the Waitaki out of their misery.

Let’s be sure of one thing when it comes to New Zealand’s southernmost rugby franchise: whatever it is they’ve been trying to do for the last six or seven years sure hasn’t been working.

Every year we get the promises and the platitudes, and every year we get the run of defeats that send them spiralling down the standings. Sure, there’s a bit of ticker there and enough pride to keep them competitive for at least the first half of the season.

And they don’t always – or even often – get the bounce of the ball going their way.

Tough. You make your own luck at this level of sport, and the Highlanders have now become such doormats, such perennial losers, that inevitably the tight calls, as well as the bouncing balls, tend to go agin’ them.

From a New Zealand perspective, the Highlanders have become an embarrassment. From a Super 14 one, hey, at least they ain’t the Lions. But that’s no basis for anyone to measure themselves by.

Seriously, something is drastically wrong down there. On Saturday as their contest – and I use that term advisedly – against the Western Force came down to the business end they flat out folded. Gave up. At least that’s what it looked like from a distance.

No wonder barely 5000 people turned up at what might be one of the most magical rugby grounds in the world, Queenstown’s Events Centre.

Let’s establish some facts here: over the previous six seasons, working back, the Highlanders’ finishing positions have been: 11th, 11th, 9th, 9th, 8th and 9th. The last two of those were out of just 12 teams. They currently sit 11th again, with the very real prospect of going winless over their last four matches.

Now teams can have bad runs, and go through rebuilding periods. Just look at the Blues and Chiefs. But with the Highlanders it’s hard to see the light at the end of their long, black tunnel.

They were a good team once, way back when. Between 1998 and 2002, they made the semis four times and even hosted the final (in ’99) when they were – ta da! – a shade unlucky to be pipped by the Crusaders in the ‘Party at Tony Brown’s’. (If you don’t know, don’t ask.)

That is now but a distant memory.

There’s a case to be made that the Highlanders are close to becoming the after-thought of New Zealand rugby. That’s sad.

Certainly their own people seem to regard them with scant regard if the pathetic attendances at Carisbrook are anything to go by. Crowds that consistently come in under 10,000 (sometimes well under) are not going to help pay the bills either.

Remember this is a franchise in such a parlous financial state that the NZRU had had to step in and oversee their affairs.

But should their under-achieving ways really be any surprise? It’s not like they have the talent to be competitive anyway. Take this year’s squad as an example. They have what might be termed top-level players in three, maybe four positions: Jimmy Cowan, Adam Thomson, Tom Donnelly and, at a stretch, Jamie Mackintosh. Plus a trio of quality youngsters in Israel Dagg, Ben Smith and Josh Bekhuis. We might add Robbie Robinson to that list, but still await direct evidence. The rest are journeymen, at best.

The Chiefs, Hurricanes, Blues and Crusaders have an embarrassment of riches in comparison.

So in some ways the Highlanders are just a by-product of the talent in their region. And the players they have been able to bring in – the likes of Clint Newland, Hayden Triggs, Steven Setephano, Matt Berquist, Jason Shoemark and Fetu’u Vainikolo – are men who play hard, but just have limited abilities at this level.

Plus, it looks they are going to lose Thomson to the Crusaders at the end of this season, which is a move that is sad in terms of the bigger picture but one you really can’t blame the All Black flanker for making. He does have his own career to think about.

So what to do?

Start again I say. Especially if Thomson is indeed pulling the pin.

That means new coach, new captain, and a total rethink on the personnel front. Go young, go bold and try to find a new wave of Randells and Wilsons and Olivers and Kronfelds. Dagg, Smith, Robinson and Mackintosh are a start. They gotta find others.

Easier said than done, I know. But what have they got to lose?

It might be a hard call to ditch Glenn Moore who’s a good guy and a hard-working coach and, let’s face it, Graham Henry probably wouldn’t have done any better with this lot.

But for me it needs a new broom. Which would mean relieving Jimmy Cowan of the captaincy too – probably a blessing, it has to be said. Some people thrive on the responsibility; Jimmy just seems to get hotter and hotter under the collar.

And next year will be a good year to do it, too. It will be the Highlanders’ last at the Brook before they shift into their new home at Forsyth Barr Stadium. There will be a new vibe, hopefully a bigger crowd in the plush new roofed venue and maybe that can transfer into something better on the field.

It’s certainly due.