All Blacks coach Graham Henry has taken a swipe at the number of New Zealand rugby players giving up on the dream to become an All Black and choosing money instead.
Article from Rugby Heaven NZ
Speaking at the announcement of Blues and All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu re-signing with the NZRU for two more years, Henry took aim at players who were forgoing ambitions of wearing a black jersey once they got a big offer from an overseas club.
“It irritates me that guys [just] under the All Blacks group who have a dream of being an All Black for 25 years all of a sudden get offered $500,000 and bugger off,” Henry said.
“They don’t carry on and fulfil the dream. There’s plenty of time to do all of that other stuff.
“There are guys I know who’ve gone overseas who’ve regretted it immensely. Often it’s their partner’s pressure, they want to do an OE.
“They get over there and they think `oh J***s, it’s not so nice over here after all.’ The grass is not always greener.
“It irritates me that guys who’ve had a dream for 20 years give away their dream because they get offered some big money to go to Ireland or France or somewhere, and they finish up regretting it.
“I don’t think there will be a huge number of All Blacks who’ll leave, but the guys who are knocking on the door are the guys looking to go and that’s disappointing to me.”
Henry was probably alluding to recently departed Blues centre Jared Payne, who had future All Black written all over him based on his form this season before signing with Irish club Ulster. Last year Crusaders midfielder Tim Bateman and Hurricanes lock Michael Paterson were among players near the top level to head overseas.
Mealamu’s re-signing followed last week’s announcement that Liam Messam would be staying in New Zealand after the World Cup.
Others already committed to remain in New Zealand are Hika Elliot, Tony Woodcock, Ben Franks, Anthony Boric, Tom Donnelly, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Kieran Read, Daniel Braid, Victor Vito, Jimmy Cowan, Conrad Smith, Israel Dagg and Aaron Cruden.
That is a fair few All Blacks, but there are a significant number already confirmed to go overseas, or contemplating offers.
The NZRU have made it no secret that their big targets to re-sign are Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.
Henry says he doesn’t get involved in negotiations with these two players, but he’s obviously keen for them to remain in New Zealand.
“Obviously I’d love to see them stay,” he said. “In their case they’ve been outstanding All Blacks and could be outstanding All Blacks for some time.
“They’ve done a hell of a good job for New Zealand rugby and we’re all hoping they’ll stay and continue doing that good job because they’re part of the backbone of the team.
“They’ve got some big decisions to make, but it’s the guys who haven’t done what Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw have done but have that opportunity and then are walking away from it that are worrying me.”
In another interview Henry said this
Henry does not believe the World Cup cannot be a festival of running rugby where penalties decide only a few matches and attack finally defeats defence.
For that to happen he thinks there has to be consistently good weather, particularly in Auckland where the business end of proceedings will take place.
“September and October in Auckland is generally pretty wet and as you’ve seen already this year, a lot of our players do not know how to play in the wet. We are not showing a lot of ability to play in the wet and that’s a wee bit of a concern for me.”
@ superBul:
Hence we MUST fear the English.
They have the type of game that suits wet weather and are more than used to playing in the wet. Put that together with being well rested and I personally think they’ll be a major factor at RWC 2011.
Read on SuperSport Active on my PVR that Brian Mujati is in Div’s sights for a call up but can’t find anything on the wires.
Anyone have any more info’?
He is having a great season at Northampton.
@ Scrumdown:
http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Springboks/Mujati-may-be-Divs-Bok-shock-20110419
@ superBul:
Got it on the Independent newspaper’s site. Thanks.
Agree with GH. Players that leave to play in Europe for money and forfeit playing for their country is a shame. We have it here as well. Hope somehow we can see a end to it, but we won’t with the type of money offered to our players in the sh by nh clubs.
Wonder why the selected the wet months of Sept/Oct then to have the world cup? Then think they have plenty rain in NZ no matter which months. Wonder which months have the least amount of rain? Sharks played Chiefs in atrocious weather and that was in Feb.
@ Puma:
Allowing players to play for money cant be stop, remember Danie Craven warned about this. But we wont ever return to amateur rugby. We lose a lot of quality when players leave this country, in effect our competitions too.
There is only one thing that we can do to make the leavers think twice. Tell them if you leave your Springbok hopes are dashed and if you come back there will be a 2 year waiting period before you are illegible for Bok colors.
Harsh but that is the only way to scare them. Money or Springbok.
7@ superBul:
It’s not only the superstars that we need to worry about, what about the scores of excellent provincial players now playing in other countries who are lost to SA Rugby.
Europe is littered with enough South Africans to make up a more than decent Super Rugby franchise, and probably a team capable of making the quarter finals at the WC, if not better.
Hell, I know of youngsters making a VERY decent living in England playing Semi-Pro club Rugby.
As long as South Africa has a third world economy the reality is that the ZAR will be worth sh1t compared to Sterling and the Euro.
An article on Supersport quoted mind boggling figures for players set to move to Europe after the RWC.
@ Scrumdown:
Again we pay for bad service, maybe we must accept it. After all we are in Africa. I just wonder if the IRB will lift its illegibility rules to allow more players to play for the home unions. How will it affect the OWN players over there.
Dont you as a South African feel like a South Sea Islander when so many of our players become eligible in Europe. NZ was accused of it.
10@ superBul:
To me I feel as if SARU has let our young players down.
The structures in this country don’t give all players a fair shake of the dice.
Why even bother trying to get a contract here if you know you can make more playing 3rd tier club Rugby in the UK than second tier provincial Rugby in SA?
This is true for SA as well.
What must a player like Sarel Pretorius do? He is the form 9 in SA, and has been one of the best in the last year or 2. It is pretty much a certain that he will not be picked ahead of: FDP, Januarie, Hougaard or Ruan Pienaar.
Same for Duane. Spies, Kankowski etc will be chosen ahead of him.
How much more can / must they “up their game” before they realise that they are just not going to be picked?
Me, I would chase after the money.
Selective memory for critical All Blacks coach
Is this the same Graham Henry who, after seven seasons of success with Auckland and the Blues, called a hasty press conference in 1998 and stunned New Zealand rugby by announcing: ”I’m going to coach Wales, and I’m leaving tonight.”
Back then, Henry was to paraphrase Canadian crooner Leonard Cohen just a kid of 52 with a dream to coach the All Blacks. He’d put his hand up earlier in 1998 but the NZRU opted to stay with John Hart through to the 1999 World Cup tournament.
Had Henry been patient, the All Blacks’ job was surely his in 2000. Instead, he decamped to Cardiff and Wayne Smith now Henry’s assistant got Hart’s old All Blacks gig.
Henry couldn’t be accused of having his head turned by a mere $500,000 offer. His five-year contract with Wales was estimated, in the Welsh press, at 235,000 pounds a year at a time when one pound was worth around three Kiwi dollars.
The NZRU were so incensed at his move to Wales they enacted a law in his name, the so-called Henry Clause, preventing coaches returning directly from overseas to coach the All Blacks or Super rugby franchises. They had to earn their spurs again at footy’s flaxroots.
Henry, as he has been for most of his coaching career, was a trail blazer. Perhaps he was speaking from personal experience this week when he warned: ”There are guys I know who’ve gone overseas who’ve regretted it immensely… They get over there and they think ‘oh J***s it’s not so nice over here after all.’ The grass is not always greener.”
The grass was green in Wales in 1998 _ it’s a pretty pluvial place, Pontypridd. Henry was hailed as Welsh rugby’s Great Redeemer after masterminding a win over England at Twickenham and fashioning a 10-game winning streak. In 2001, he became the first foreigner to coach the British and Irish Lions, in a 2-1 test series loss in Australia.
But coaching Wales can be a poisoned chalice. Their fanatical rugby public and acerbic critics seem pretenaturally unable to accept the principality’s halcyon days ended in the 1970s. Henry’s tenure ended abruptly in 2002 after a record Six Nations series defeat to Ireland. He was replaced at Wales by current All Blacks forwards coach Steve Hansen, who had just defected from the Crusaders to become Henry’s righthand man.
After his midlife OE, Henry headed home. The Auckl Rugby Union, if not the national body, welcomed him with open arms. He became technical adviser to the Auckland NPC team and filled a similar role for the Blues. His clever defensive system laid the platform for the franchise’s Super 12 championship victory in 2003 their first since Henry coached them to successive titles in 1996 and 1997.
By 2004, Wales’ Great Redeemer achieved redemption at home, becoming All Blacks coach. |He’d done his time and served a penance which no longer exists the Henry clause was kicked into touch long ago, allowing Smith (Northampton) and Hansen (Wales) to return home and immediately become All Blacks assistant coaches.
Today, all three enjoy immense respect at NZRU HQ, to such an extent they were reappointed after the All Blacks lost the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal to France.
Henry a four-time IRB international coach of the year is a survivor. He’s a much savvier coach than the one who left at such short notice for Wales 13 years ago. That move meant some short-term pain for the NZRU but hardly any long-term harm. Thus, Henry shouldn’t begrudge players treading a similar path to his own. They’re making a business decision no different to anyone else in the workforce.
Let them go. There are plenty of people happy to stay home to be All Blacks. But let them return, too, to make another contribution just as Henry has done so well.
– The Press
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