Hansen's view carries weight of experience

Steve Hansen with All Blacks' squad - Lynn McConnell pic

Former All Black coach Steve Hansen has always been an outspoken advocate for the game and he thinks the Covid-19 pandemic may well provide a chance for the game's issues to be resolved.

In a wide-ranging two-part interview with walesonline.co.uk Hansen, who was one of the few high-profile people in the game to push for a global season, said the pandemic represented a great chance for all affected parties across the world to come together and do what was right for the game.

"It's been a long time coming because it's been needed for quite some time.

"There has been a lot of self-interest and if we don't do the right thing we could lose the game and that would be a tragedy.

"We have lost our way in rugby a little bit and we haven't been working well enough together.

"Maybe this pandemic has caused a crisis that means we have to. If that's the case, then that's one positive to come out some something that's pretty ordinary," he said.

No one has been at the sharp end of the modern game as long as Hansen. While others have come or gone, moved on to other contracts or given the game away, Hansen spent 20 years at the highest level pouring his energy into five World Cup campaigns, one with Wales and four with New Zealand, coming away with two gold medals and one bronze.

That puts him in a place to offer a rare perspective of life at the top.

No surprise surrounds the fact the 2007 World Cup quarterfinal exit had such an effect on his career.

"I think that was a turning point in New Zealand's World Cup history.

"The New Zealand Rugby Union were strong enough, smart enough, whatever you want to call it, to say we were going to come back in and do it again.

"It was the first time in All Black history a group of coaches had been given the opportunity to take the lessons they had learned from World Cup poor performances and put them into the next one," he said.

Winning in 2011 had been achieved 'by the skin of our teeth under some tough mental issues', the result of not having won the trophy in 24 years.

Apart from losing four first five-eighths they also had captain Richie McCaw with two broken bones in his foot.

"We didn't know they were broken because we didn't ask. We didn't want to know and he didn't want to say.

"What he did in that tournament was phenomenal. Mentally, he would be the toughest bloke I have had anything to do within my coaching career.

"I think he's the best rugby player the world has ever seen," he said.

But the World Cup provided its lessons and with New Zealand having learned more than any other team, it was a case of having to get things right or you lost the opportunity.

"In the one just gone, [2019] we played really good rugby, bar for one game, and unfortunately that one game says, 'right, you don't get a second chance'.

"And England, who played so tremendously well against us, couldn't back it up in the final," he said.

Hansen also admitted to not coaching as well as he might have in the 2017 series against the British & Irish Lions.

"I was pretty disappointed in myself and some of the coaching decisions I made," he said.

At the same time, he felt the series could have been significantly different.

The way the second Test was lost, after Sonny Bill Williams' red card, and with the All Blacks leading into the final moments he was frustrated at the end.

"To lose it on a penalty where a guy tackles a guy jumping to catch the ball from a poor pass when everyone knows that wasn't intentional of that rule, that's frustrating.

"Then the last game was frustrating with the decision at the end [with Ken Owens] that was so obvious to everybody, but no one wanted to admit it," he said.

Another view of 1980 Olympic Games boycott

International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz, a rowing bronze medalist in 1976, recounted her memories, and her lawsuit, against the United States Olympic Committee, over the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games.

In an open letter to Olympic supporters in the wake of the 40th anniversary of the Moscow Games, she drew a parallel with the postponement of the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

DeFrantz was also a lawyer and after the USOC voted to boycott the Summer Olympics in 1980 she realised the only chance for athletes was to sue.

"Forty years ago, I looked at April 12 as my date with destiny," she said in an open 

"As an IOC member and Olympian, I know how difficult this postponement is for the host city and certainly for the athletes training to compete in those Games.

"No one knows how adding a year to the quadrennial effort will affect athletes. I know that athletes will find some way to train. Although some may lose their chance to be known as Olympians," she said.

April 12, 1980, had changed her path in life.

"It was crushing for me to know that only 30 percent of the assembled delegates voted to support the athletes' right to compete. The others I called medical miracles because they could walk without a spine," she said.

'The others I called medical miracles because they could walk without a spine.'

"They knew that every athlete had found their own way to an Olympic sport and that we had to finance all our training. Not a penny of federal, state or local taxpayer funds supported the US athletes training with the goal of becoming a member of the 1980 US Olympic team."

DeFrantz's legal action proved unsuccessful, losing at both the district level and on appeal.

"During one of the administration's briefings held at the State Department, I asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General David C. Jones, USAF, if our staying at home would save a least one life? His response was, 'No'."

The IOC had supported the 1980 Moscow Games as it had each host city. But documents from the Carter Presidential Library reveal the Carter Administration's wish was to destroy the IOC, she said.

"Much has changed in 40 years. Today, of the 15 members of the IOC Executive Board there are eight Olympians, four women and four men. Two of us [herself and president Thomas Bach] suffered through the political machinations of 1980 and we have firsthand knowledge of how that affected the rest of an athlete's life.

"I admire today's athletes and hope they will stay safe and healthy. Unlike 40 years ago, it is abundantly clear that through his postponement, countless lives will be saved," she said.

All Blacks could play Wales three times in Oct-Nov

Should Test rugby be possible by November, the All Blacks could feature in three Tests against Wales.

The two old rivals were set to meet in two Tests in the July international window in New Zealand but with travel restrictions around the world and New Zealand's borders still closed that is highly unlikely.

However, walesonline.co.uk has reported in a revised calendar being drawn up by World Rugby, Wales could play eight matches, three of them against New Zealand.

World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said 'excellent progress' was being made in discussions among top-tier nations.

It is likely games will be played in October-November to make up for the cancellation of the July tours.

The cancelled July games would be played in October while Wales would also play Scotland to complete its Six Nations programme that was postponed in March.

Then, in November, Wales would play New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Fiji.

New Zealand were keen to play their games as part of a tour so that could mean one or two of the Wales Tests could be played at other venues. It was considered unlikely that eight consecutive matches would be played at Cardiff's Principality Stadium.

World Rugby was still keen to see the July programme go ahead but the autumn programme was a possible alternative.

If it does go ahead Wales and the other home nations and France would play 13 Test matches within six months.

Poite still chips Owens on Eden Park penalty

British & Irish Lions and Wales hooker Ken Owens, the man at the centre of the controversial conclusion to the third Lions Test against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 2017, has revealed he still gets chipped about it by the referee concerned Roman Poite.

With the scores level at 15-15 Owens was penalised for playing the ball from an offside position, a position that would have provided All Black Beauden Barrett with a chance to kick a last-minute penalty goal for New Zealand to claim the Test and the series.

Controversially, the ruling was overturned with the game and series drawn.

Owens told Joe's House of Rugby podcast, "Just before it happened, I was going, 'Right boys, exit now, let's restart, get the ball back down the field, switch on' and all the rest of it.

"[It was a case of] Don't f… up and then I f….. up!

"I went straight to Jonathan Davies, who is one of my best mates, and I said I am going to have to move to Trellech – which is about 17 miles out of Carmarthen [his home town], the most rural part of the county – and like hide away for the rest of my life.

"So there was relief in there when it wasn't a penalty," he said.

A scrum was called instead and the Lions held the All Blacks out to secure the draw.

"When Roman Poite refs me now, he does drop in a little quip now and again, with 'Stay onside this time, Ken' or something like that."

Owens said he went into the All Blacks changing room afterwards to congratulate All Blacks captain Kieran Read for winning his 100th cap but he said, 'He wouldn't really speak to me'.

"To be fair, he did apologise after the third-place play-off at the World Cup. There were emotions running high at the time," he said.

Owens added that he had enjoyed playing under coach Warren Gatland, now back in New Zealand and coaching the Chiefs in Super Rugby.

"You know exactly what he expects of you and you can just crack on then and know where you stand. He just gives you massive confidence and gets that winning mentality out of players.

"His man-management is so clever. He knows the individuals in his team and what they need to get the best out of them. Some boys just need to be hammered all the time because that's how they perform.

"Others constantly need the carrot. It was probably stick early on with me.

"He would be different to every player and he would keep changing his tack. It wouldn't be the same way all that time. That was his biggest strength," he said.

Hard man lists contain many omissions

At a time when sports news outlets are struggling for content, list-making becomes much more prevalent.

And imagination has certainly been fired up in efforts to stay engaged with their readership.

It is ultimately an exercise in futility as most lists involve comparing generations and choices that will never be tested in the white heat of combat.

Everyone has their reasons for making their choices and they are often more interesting than the choices themselves.

One especially difficult group of lists has been doing the rounds this week, the choice of the 'hardest' players in rugby.

Inevitably, selections tend to be about as deep as the owner's memory which can be 20 years or 40 years.

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But rugby was being played a long time before that.

Two lists this week have been completed by Stuart Barnes and Graham Price, both British & Irish Lions, from England and Wales respectively.

Barnes' top 10 was: Gareth Chilcott (England), Gerard Cholley (France), Jonny Wilkinson (England), Graham Price (Wales), Eben Etzebeth (South Africa), Wayne Shelford (New Zealand), David Pocock (Australia), Richie McCaw (New Zealand), Scott Gibbs (Wales), Jim Telfer (Scotland).

Price's list was: Cholley, Michel Palmie (France), Alain Esteve (France), Colin Meads (New Zealand), Frank Oliver (New Zealand), Fran Cotton (England), Shelford, Jerry Collins (New Zealand, Bakkies Botha (South Africa), Etzebeth.

For what it's worth, some notable omissions would appear to be: Alex Wyllie (New Zealand), Alain Plantefol (France), Mark Shaw (New Zealand), Morne du Plessis (South Africa), Sebastian Chabal (France), Ken Gray (New Zealand), Mervyn Davies (Wales), Bismarck du Plessis (South Africa), Kevin Skinner (New Zealand), Chris Koch (South Africa), Keith Murdoch (New Zealand) and that's without dipping back into the pre-World War Two era.

Wyllie's reputation is well known and was to the fore in South Africa in 1970 and Britain and France in 1972-73 but most notably with Canterbury who enjoyed a fearsome reputation in the late-1960s and early 1970s as the Lions discovered in 1971.

Plantefol was the player who took on Colin Meads in the Test many All Blacks said was the toughest they ever played, against France on the 1967 tour. It was his actions that resulted in Meads wearing a prolific amount of bandaging under a scrum cap in the Test against Scotland a week later where he was ordered off.

Shaw was a handy player to have around when the going got willing during the mid-1980s while Morne du Plessis, the Springbok captain during the 1976 series against the All Blacks, was a constant menace among a very big pack, several of whom could also have joined the list.

Sebastian Chabal with his long hair and beard, and more than a little ability, was tough as teak and a fearsome player to run into, just ask Ali Williams who had his jaw broken in a clash.

When Colin Meads said Ken Gray was one of the strongest men he ever scrummaged with the commendation doesn't come much higher.

Mervyn Davies' contribution was an often forgotten part of the 1971 Lions' structure in their series win over the All Blacks. But his work at No 8 gave Gareth Edwards and Barry John the ride that allowed them to dictate their side's success.

Hooker Bismarck du Plessis wasn't afraid to mix it in all company while Kevin Skinner and Chris Koch had plenty of history in 1949 and 1956 to the point Skinner's involvement became folklore, even if Skinner maintained it wasn't as bad as was made out.

And it can be safely said that no one ever got the better of Keith Murdoch. Playing through a Test match and then being operated on for appendicitis says it all. His career was short but he made a big impact with his crowning glory his try in the 19-16 win over Wales that preceded his sending home.

Memory is selective and some of the toughest players are known only to their opponents, doing their job buried in the tight and winning little obvious recognition but gaining respect nonetheless.

Wallabies were offered $200,000 for 1988 Rebel tour to SA

It has often been a source of conjecture in New Zealand rugby: how much did the Cavaliers get paid to make their rebel tour of South Africa in 1986?

The tour was the result of the legal ruling that the All Blacks could not make their 1985 tour of South Africa because it went against the NZRFU constitution. Players who made the tour received a two-Test suspension.

While there were suspicions of payments being made to undertake the tour, nothing official was ever outlined.

However, former Wallaby Brett Papworth has revealed what Australian players were to be paid for a similar rebel tour to be undertaken in 1988.

In an interview on rugby.com.au, Papworth said that after the 1987 Rugby World Cup and a tour to South America later that year he switched to rugby league.

The reason for that move was the cancellation of the Rebel tour.

"We had a rebel tour of South Africa planned and pretty much ready to go. It was worth $A200,000 tax-free," he said.

"We were days away from hitting the airport and it all blew up into this massive controversy. The tour got canned but I'd already spent that 200 grand in my head.

"The league boys had been chasing me for a while and it was pretty big money. I spoke to the Bulldogs, Tigers, the Gold Coast Giants and the Roosters. I chose the Rooster because I thought they were on the way up but the Bulldogs and Tigers ended up playing in the grand final of '88," he said.

Papworth said he never regretted move because he enjoyed meeting other players and it had been worthwhile financially. But he never reached his potential in the game as he twice broke his forearm, suffered a 'smashed' jaw and suffered two bad knee injuries.

Before getting back into rugby he endured a long court battle for reinstatement and is now president of the Eastwood club and a director of the Sydney Rugby Union.

The former second five-eighths was a dynamic performer who made his Test debut in 1985 after an outstanding schoolboys career for Australia.

He was part of the Alan Jones-coached side who won the Bledisloe Cup on their New Zealand tour of 1986.

"You don't beat the Kiwis on home soil very often. The fact we haven't won there [Eden Park] since then is remarkable but shows you just how tough it is," he said.

"We had a bloody good team and were good that day and they had a bit of turbulence. There had been a rebel tour of South Africa and they [New Zealand] welcomed most of those blokes back, so it was a difficult time for them.

"But they were still a great side and we should have won all three Tests [instead of 2-1]. We had a try disallowed in the second Test to Steve Tuynman that the Welsh referee [Derek Bevan] now admits was a try. We lost 13-12 before winning in Auckland," he said.

The Australians, joint hosts with New Zealand of the inaugural World Cup in 1987, felt they were a good chance to win the title. They were beaten in one of the semifinals by France.

"We played a World Cup semifinal at Concord Oval – people wouldn't believe it! We were holed up at the Travelodge at Camperdown, so it was hardly glamorous. Blokes were working. Jonesy [Alan Jones] was doing his radio show in the morning so we'd meet at 10 o'clock for training and then go off. But it was a big-time for us. We felt it was pretty special.

"We should have won that semifinal but couldn't get the job done. It was back and forth with the lead changing hands probably five or six times. They ended up scoring [in injury time]. It is considered one of the great games and when you get older, the winning and losing ceases to be so important. It was a special game to be part of," he said.

Pichot comes off the bench swinging

Amid all the publicity and discussion over the future of rugby in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Easter Sunday's announcement that Agustin Pichot is challenging Bill Beaumont for the chairmanship of World Rugby has lobbed another grenade into the administrative melee.

Beaumont, a representative of the old face of the game, whether he likes it or not, may have thought he would be unchallenged for the chairmanship. But Pichot, the Argentine halfback in his playing days, produced a dart around the blindside to make a late entry into the race.

Beaumont didn't help himself when announcing Frenchman Bernard Laporte as his running mate, thereby forcing a wedge between himself and Pichot, his deputy on the world body.

Ever the politician Laporte is not the most popular man in the world game.

But Pichot has gone bold and seized his moment in a time when World Rugby is vulnerable.

He has outlined a six-point plan of revolution in the game, something that could appeal in the revised nature of the sport once the pandemic is contained.

Having seen his plans for the Nations Championship rejected last year, he has taken the lesson and amended the scope of his plan. It would be an annual tournament featuring the top 12 teams from both hemispheres.

"The Nations Championship is the starting point but we need more people at the table to discuss the proposal: clubs, players, unions, private equity.

"Things were blocked last year but I believe this virus will change people and change the way they do things. I think it could create a revolution in our game because you have to look again at the whole ecosystem," he said.

He wants a more democratic organisation and an end to the archaic voting system that embeds the power of the top tier nations while also introducing a revenue-sharing funding model.

He would encourage a greater concentration on grassroots and youth rugby with special focus on emerging nations.

Pichot would develop players' commissions, similar to the structure the International Olympic Committee employs and which was so strong in forcing their parent body to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. At the same time, he wants discussions to take place to reduce player wages to create sustainability in the game.

He wants a 'fit for purpose' organisation with a review of all internal structures to restore trust in the governing body.

Interestingly, Pichot has no running mate and has taken an independent stance.

"It is a critical time and a critical selection," he told the Daily Mail.

"I have a different vision of the game to Bill. I'm not saying mine is better than his and I don't have a bad word to say against him, but we think differently.

"Our sport has to adjust to the modern way. It's not about anarchy. It's about modern, equal, professional democracy. We need solidarity and certainty in times of crisis.

"The system does not trust World Rugby…that's the reality. We let politics get inside the organisation and that's not good. I have been a part of it and I should have pushed harder for a fairer system," he said.

Pichot sees the private equity company CVC has a key contributor to the required chance.

"They will want things organised to make more money. A critical situation will put you on a creative pathway to change things," he said.

Amazon Prime, Google or Netflix would be crucial players in creating more income over the next five years, he said.

"If you ask most business people how they run a company and how they spend their money, it's not being done in rugby. I'm not here to fly around the world, go to amazing places and have a good time. We need to look at expenditure and head counts," he said.

Carter's stain, and 'bad decision' will never wash off

April 12 passed by without a lot of fuss but 40 years ago it was the date of one of the more lamentable decisions involving sport and politicians and which had significant implications for New Zealand sportspeople.

It was when the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) bowed to the wishes of American president Jimmy Carter and decided to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.

That set in train a world-wide response boosted in New Zealand by the Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, a man who only a couple of years earlier had got himself deeply offside with his American allies by describing Carter as 'a peanut farmer'. Months later, in a classic display of irony, Muldoon would allow the 1981 Springbok tour to take place.

Mike Moran, only in the first year into his job as chief spokesman for the USOC – a position he held for another 23 years – remembered that day in Colorado Springs for Thesportsexaminer.com.

He recalled the decision being made that would deny 200 Americans and many others around the world the right to be called Olympians.

The vote on the question of the boycott was passed 1704 to 697 and was a decision that almost put the USOC out of business.

Carter, who would be tipped out of office later in the year by Ronald Reagan, made his call on January 20. But on April 12, the USOC was addressed by Vice President Walter Mondale and the USOC treasurer William E. Simon, who also happened to be a former Secretary of the Treasury.

Following the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, Carter wanted the Olympics to be moved from Moscow to another venue or to be postponed or cancelled if the Soviet Union didn't withdraw its troops.

Mondale's contribution to the USOC meeting was to tell them: "History holds its breath for what is at stake is no less than the future security of the civilized world. If one nation can be subjugated by Soviet aggression, is any sovereign nation truly safe from that fate?... If the Soviet lunge toward the most strategic oil-rich spot on earth fails to unite us, what will?"

In today's world, Mondale's effort would be seen as a classic response to the 'Reds under the bed' Cold War that was even then beginning to peter out.

But Simon, supposedly representing the best interests of the Olympic sportsmen and women of the US said: "It is somewhat incredulous that a group of mature persons whom I consider to be among the most patriotic of Americans can seriously discuss defying the President of the United States on a national security issue."

Carter left no stone unturned to achieve his demand, a call which flew in the face of the International Olympic Committee charter that said all national Olympic committees should resist all pressures whether political, religious or economic. Even worse the USOC's constitution said no member could 'deny or threaten to deny any amateur athlete the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games.'

So Carter pulled out the old national security line to pour the pressure on. Olympic sponsors were then heavied to not make key payments unless the USOC backed the boycott.

Top-ranked USOC officials were threatened with reductions in their service entitlements in retirement.

An event was organised on July 26, 1980, for the American athletes and at the end of a visit by Carter, who thanked them for their sacrifice, the athletes were given a special medal that had been paid for by the USOC. Those medals were in 2007 given Congressional gold medal status by Congress, the highest civilian award in the US.

Moran said some years later, the 1984 Olympic Greco-Roman gold medalist Jeff Blatnick, who had been one of the 1980 team members, found himself on an internal flight in the US and sharing the first-class cabin with Carter.

Blatnick told him: "As soon as the plane gets up in the air and levels off, he [Carter] gets up and starts saying hi to everybody. I say to the person next to me, 'I wonder how this is going to be?' He gets to me, I go, 'President Carter, I have met you before, I am an Olympian.' He looks at me and says, 'Were you on the 1980 hockey team?' I say, 'No sir, I 'm a wrestler, on the summer team.' He said, 'Oh, that was a bad decision, I'm sorry.'"

There was some karma, albeit less significant, for the Olympians, however. It had been scheduled that Carter would run a leg of the torch relay ahead of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta near his home town of Plains, Georgia.

But a group of 1980 US Olympians approached Carter representatives and advised that if he was to touch an Olympic torch or wear official clothing, or even take part in the run, they would have a 'major retaliatory response'.

Carter found something else to do on the day concerned.

His presidency may forever be stained by the Iranian storming of the US Embassy in Teheran and the subsequent
hostage crisis, but his treatment of Olympic athletes won't be far behind.

Bender puts Cup behind him and settles in to France

Retired All Black Ben Smith has put the disappointment of the All Blacks' third place at last year's Rugby World Cup behind him and says on reflection that the event had been very competitive.

Now playing his rugby in France, at Pau, although now in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, Smith told The Rugby Paper, "I thought the 2019 World Cup was very competitive, with Japan doing so well and so many other teams playing really good rugby.

"World Cups are really tough and even when we won it in 2015, I remember we were probably lucky to beat a good South Africa team in the semifinal. Things might not have gone our way at the end of that game, and then you look back to 2011 and the final against France when we had a wee bit of luck as well.

"That's what I took from World Cups because the margins are so small between going forwards or going home.

"The thing I love about rugby is you can never take what's happened before as an indicator, it's all about what you do on the day. I remember how people were giving the French stick going into that 2011 final but they played out of their skins and nearly beat the All Blacks in Auckland, so I enjoy that aspect of rugby because it means you
can never get complacent," he said.

Smith had his disappointment in Japan when not included for the playoffs games but said he still had to contribute to the preparation of the side.

"Selection was in someone else's hands and I had to just get on with it. The way I look at it, I was still lucky to be involved in a World Cup and although it didn't go how we wanted, I still managed to contribute and to bow out with two tries and a big over Wales was nice," he said.

Smith acknowledged England's effort in winning their semifinal with the All Blacks.

"Test matches against England are always special and I played in a fair few, but most people who watched that game will say they played better than us and deserved their win.

"The good thing about rugby in a World Cup is that whoever turns up on the day and plays the best rugby gets to go forward in the competition – and England well and truly did that in that semifinal," he said.

Smith is sharing the lockdown in France with Highlanders and All Blacks teammate Luke Whitelock and his family outside of Pau because there was more space for their children to roam around.

He said there was a good core of New Zealanders at Pau with Tom Taylor, Colin Slade and Daniel Ramsay still playing and Conrad Smith and Paul Tito on the coaching team.

Smith said he hadn't been tempted to stay in New Zealand to try and get 100 Test caps.

"I thought now was a good time to move on. I was 33 and at some point, you want a different challenge. I saw coming to Pau as fulfilling that challenge and a chance to spend some good time with my family after spending so many years on the international circuit in Super Rugby and with the All Blacks. I really enjoyed my time in New Zealand but just felt it was the right time to do something else," he said.

It helped that Bordeaux, Biarritz, Andorra and Spain were all close to his Pau base.

Lions legend says Twickenham Test a 'nonsense'

British & Irish Lions rugby great Willie-John McBride has poured Guinness all over Warren Gatland's suggestion to have a Lions Test against the All Blacks at Twickenham next year.

A former captain of the Lions, he led them to a series win over South Africa in 1974 on his fifth Lions tour, McBride told The Rugby Paper such a game was 'completely alien to the ethos and history of the Lions'.

"For the Lions to play a home Test match is nonsense," he said.

The Lions have only ever played once in Britain, against Argentina before the 2005 New Zealand tour.

McBride took issue with Gatland's suggestion the Test could generate $NZ10 million.

"That's the problem with the world of professional sport at the moment. It's all about money, not about sport. Therefore this [Test] is going to be played purely for money. It would be meaningless," he said.

McBride said looking at the state rugby was in at the moment it was obvious lessons should have been learnt from the mess the game had become.

"The ethos of the game has been damaged so much. It used to be run by rugby people. Now it's run by (supposed) financial wizards. The grassroots game is dying, or it certainly is in Ireland.

"If they are going to have a Lions, then have a proper Lions tour. They keep saying they can't squeeze the Lions into the curriculum once every four years yet they always seem to find room for some stupid idea to fill Twickenham.

"Surely it is possible to have a proper Lions tour. I think it's scandalous that the Premiership clubs in England are dictating the future of the sport.

"The game has gone back since the advent of professionalism. It's a mixture of Rugby League, Rugby Union and American football. A lot of it is quite boring. I played in my share of boring games but there would always be a spark," he said.

Another Lions captain, Phil Bennett [to New Zealand in 1977] said he also believed the Lions should play their games overseas and while he saw himself as old-fashioned, playing away was what made the Lions unique.

But at the same time, he saw merit in Gatland's idea, especially if one million pounds of any gate money was donated to the National Health Service.

NRL needs to get real

As the National Rugby League (NRL)
try to show they’ve surpassed the rest of the world and found a way to hold back the Covid-19 tide, others in the sports world are taking a more realistic view of life beyond lockdowns and viral speculation (pun intended).

It’s as if NRL officials are living in a bubble of ignorance, determined that they are going to show the world they’ve got a game that can withstand the fractures that their sport will impose on its participants.

They should take a look at the view that esteemed Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke has put forward.

While acknowledging the sports world did need to get back to work he said it was desperation, more than anything else, that was starting to show in some organisations responses.

“Yet, with every day, its solutions for a return sound sillier, and its false hope does more damage.

“Ignore the leagues, mute the coaches and listen to the science. There is a realistic chance the sports world will be benched until 2021,” Plaschke said.

And so say all of us.

To quote a much loved New Zealand TV advertisement that takes the piss out of Australia to the NRL officials, “You must be dreaming, mate!”

The simple facts are that it is not only the need to find a vaccine to curb coronavirus but also understanding why people have an immunity to the virus and why, as has been seen in South Korea, people are suffering re-infection. Any testing of players through antibody testing couldn’t be applied because the Federal Drug Administration hadn’t approved testing.

Plaschke quoted Californian experts who said they would be lucky to have sport until Thanksgiving. That’s in November. He pointed to the Chinese Basketball Association authorities imposing, at the very minimum, a four-month shutdown – and they are supposed to be recovering from the virus!

Similarly, he made the point of why should it be sportspeople who get back to work first? When a vaccine was found who was to say athletes should be given priority treatment?

At least American fans had cried down a suggestion that baseball should be played in a quarantine bubble in Arizona. Something that would necessitate players being separated from their families for five months. But so strong was the public reaction the idea was quickly scotched.

As various sports pondered their future where the optimism should lie was in what he called, ‘the potential excitement in sports’ new realities.

From an American perspective, he asked: “Can you imagine a Super Bowl in April, maybe the week after baseball’s opening day and the week before the Masters? Or how about a college football season that runs concurrently with college hoops, the basketball being playing during the week and the football on the weekends? What about a national championship football game on the Sunday in the middle of college basketball’s Final Four?”

Already, it appeared the 2020 baseball season was a goner, he said.

“The economic impact of the long-term shuttering of sports is tremendous and will be fought by officials from baseline to baseline, but on this field, science owns the scoreboard,” Plaschke said.”

“Sports will eventually be back, but this country is facing much more important issues right now. Cradle your glove, wear your jersey, enjoy the replays, and wait till next year,” he said.

That would appear to be the message that needs to get through to sports officials looking to push hard on returns. They should value the need for their athletes to be partners, fathers or mothers, sons or daughters first to ensure they can maintain their family connections when they are needed most rather than sacrificing them on the altar of Mammon for short-term, but unsustainable benefit.

Read Bill Plaschke's LA Times column here

Leitch worried Japan not building on Cup success

Former Chiefs No 8 and Japan captain Michael Leitch is concerned that not enough has been done to build on Japan's success in making last year's Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.

And that's not just the result of the Covid-19 pandemic shutting down the game around the world.

While there had been hints of a place for Japan in either the Rugby Championship or the Six Nations getting Japan to a place where that could happen, nothing has occurred to suggest that was still a possibility.

After all the hard work to reach that high point in their own World Cup, Leitch is concerned impetus has been lost.

He told Reuters, that for Japan to repeat their effort at the next World Cup in France in 2023, the Top League in Japan would have to change and there would have to be opportunities for the Brave Blossoms to get together to train.

"At the moment, it is a bit…I wouldn't say disorganised…but we are not focusing on the Japanese team at the moment," he said.

While there had been a goodwill move by the corporations owning Japan's clubs ahead of the World Cup to allow players more time to train with the national side that hadn't continued in the wake of the Cup.

On their schedule this year Japan will face New Zealand, England and Ireland and a lot was riding on those games, Leitch said.

"If we starting losing those Test matches then we could get back to only playing against tier two countries. There is a lot of pressure on us to keep playing well and to be competitive against those top tier one countries," he said.

Leitch was also disappointed that the Sunwolves had been cut out of Super Rugby because the side had been an opportunity to develop good Japanese players. He didn't know how else Japan could develop players.

While the Japan Rugby Union has said there will be a new league format for 2020-21, no detail had been presented.

It was important for Japan to start bringing through strong players and not to rely on foreign talent to strengthen the league.

"There needs to be a way where we promote Japanese rugby players and I think that is the next step we need to take," he said.

Leitch also hinted that once his playing career was over he could look to move into a role in the game's administration in Japan.

"I have a genuine passion for Japanese rugby and I can use my England and my Japanese to communicate with different unions," he said.

Leitch, 31, who has a coffee shop on Tokyo's outskirts, said that learning business management could be a key asset in pursuing that option.

Springboks' coaching team have noses to the grindstone

New Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber hasn't been hanging around wondering during the coronavirus pandemic.

The break in the Super Rugby season due to the virus has allowed Nienaber and his team to get plenty of analysis done on prospective opponents based on the limited footage available in the so-far truncated season.

Nienaber told supersport.com, "It's a strange time, I must say. It very quickly became part of life and it probably changes what normal will be going forward [in the future].

"It will be a time in history that we will remember how things have changed.

"From our side though, we are still busy. But the nice thing for me is that one side of coaching is the physical coaching on the field and the other side is the planning part.

"For us, nothing has changed. We are still planning as we would have done anyway.

"The only thing now is that we don't physically now have an alignment camp – we just did a virtual one with the Sharks over Skype and Microsoft Teams, which are one of our partners. We are quite lucky with that," he said.

The tough part of the work was not knowing if there would be anything at the end of all the planning.

"You plan for Test matches and at the moment nothing has been cancelled and everything is still going on.

"It is such a fluid stage that you planning might not be Scotland, but rather Georgia in the first game. Or it might be Argentina first game. We don't know. There are so many variables.

"The nice thing for us with rugby stopping is that in terms of analysis we are catching up. When the Six Nations were on, so were Super Rugby and we were focused on analysing Super Rugby performances. Because everything has stopped now, we are catching up to where everything has paused," he said.

The Springbok coaching team have been able to run alignment camps in South Africa with all teams except the Sharks, who missed the cut when the lockdown started while in Europe, assistant coach Felix Jones has been looking after the European-based players and had two camps with them before the lockdown.

"Every player was assessed, except the guys in Japan who we couldn't get to – we were planning to get to them in May. The first round of alignment camps has been down with everybody. In terms of that we are on par," he said.

Sports Roundup and Jock Edwards were made for each other

If you believe some of the published versions of the demise of Radio Sport, you would think 'sports radio' only had its origins in the 1980s.

The fact is a form of sports radio had been around since the late-1950s.

It ran on what was called the YC network out of the respective stations in the four main centres. At a few key times during the day, the National Programme would cross for half an hour of action, which was about the only time country listeners received a non-static version of the programme.

It ran during the summer months, and usually in conjunction with the Plunket Shield. No play on days between games then no Sports Roundup, as it was called.

The coverage wasn't confined to cricket. Tennis and softball enjoyed unprecedented access to their major tournaments and a level of interest that has never been regained.

Few were the people who didn't know who Onny Parun or Brian Fairlie was in tennis, or Kevin Herlihy, Dennis Cheyne, Peter Priddey, Paul Rogers, John Joyce or Basil McLean were in the softball ranks.

But it was centred around the cricket and the ability to flick from venue to venue when any action was occurring.

It is with that in mind that memories of Jock Edwards, who died this week, were evoked.

If there was one player with the ability to warrant a quick change of venue when he walked out to bat it was Edwards. He was one of a few players capable of giving the ball a nudge. Peter Coman had done it for Canterbury and Edwards maintained the momentum.

Famously, when selected for the New Zealand one-day side for the first time when it played in the Australian domestic competition during the 1960s-70s, Edwards, 20 years of age at the time, hooked a ball from fast man Dennis Lillee.

Lillee chirped him: "Where did you learn to hook, sonny?" to which Edwards replied, "From mugs like you!"

He didn't like to hang around when batting. In a time of defensive correctness above all else, he worked on the notion if the ball was there to be hit then it should be. He often joked in later years that his longest hit was a six hit out of his home ground at Trafalgar Park in Nelson, onto the back of a passing Nelson Transport truck which the driver discovered 110km later at Spring Creek, north of Blenheim.

His reputation made him a crowd favourite and he revelled in a side that had other big hitters like Lance Cairns and Wayne Hodgson.

Nelson and Pukekura Park in New Plymouth seemed to draw the best out of him.

Greg Chappell's 1977 Australian team learned that in Nelson when Edwards lined up against Lillee again, accompanied this time by Max Walker and Gary Gilmour. Having opened the first innings and scored 49 of CD's 156 in reply to Australia's 126, CD was left a target of 283 to win.

When he'd scored five Edwards retired hurt after a blow to his arm. But at 74-4, he had recovered sufficiently to join Peter Holland in a master class of attacking batting against left-arm spinner Ray Bright and leg-spinner Kerry O'Keefe.

They added 50 in 27 minutes, 100 in 52 minutes and 117 in 64 minutes before they were parted. Edwards took 13 runs off a Bright over to move to 97, adding two and then, when attempting to score the single that would have given him his maiden first-class century, he was given out lbw to Lillee. His 99 was scored in 86 minutes from 97 balls with one six and 18 fours.

Lillee proved the difference coming back to take 4-9 from his seven overs as CD fell 66 runs short.

That was sufficient to see Edwards selected for his Test debut which he marked by scoring 34 and 15 in the first Test and 51 and a duck in the second.

That elusive maiden century followed in the following season when he hit 115 against Otago.

In the 1980-81 season he enjoyed his most productive season with the bat hitting 679 runs at 56.59, a CD record that stood until Martin Crowe went berserk six years later while scoring 680 for CD during a total season's haul of 1348 runs at 103.72.

He played 92 first-class games, 67 of them for CD, scoring 4589 runs at 29.41. He hit five centuries and 25 half-centuries and had a top score of 177 not out.

Being a Nelsonian he was also part of their Hawke Cup history, hitting 1038 runs in 24 games at 37.07.

Not only was Edwards a drawcard for home fans, but he also upped the listening stats on Sports Roundup.

One-off All Blacks-Lions Test appeals but not as a 'decider'

Chiefs coach and next year's coach of the British & Irish Lions team to South Africa, Warren Gatland has floated the idea of the All Blacks and Lions playing a 'series decider' ahead of next year's Lions tour.

Is it a goer?

Optimists and they are people to listen to in times of coronavirus, would say nothing is impossible.

But pessimists, and English club owners, would say no.

Before even considering the concept it is worth remembering that England's premiership club owners are already under significant pressure because they refuse to allow the Lions to have time to prepare for their tour, just as they did ahead of the 2017 visit to New Zealand. That has resulted in the tour being reduced to eight games in five weeks, compared to 10 in six as happened in New Zealand.

At the New Zealand end, in a normal world, the game would be scheduled, at Twickenham, in the vital end stages of the Super Rugby competition.

It wouldn't only involve one week out of action for New Zealand players, it would be at least two weeks to make the flight north to prepare in time.

That is presuming borders are open and flights available because in a worst-case scenario a vaccine may still not have been found – and that holds much of the answer about a return to normality.

Conjecture had centred on the Maori All Blacks providing the Lions with a warm-up game but Gatland floated the fund-raising options that a game involving the All Blacks at Twickenham might provide for New Zealand Rugby.

All that aside, could the game be described as a 'series decider.'

No doubt the winner could claim that.

In reality, it would be nothing like a continuation of that series and would have to be in the 'one-off' category.

Why?

No Kieran Read, no Owen Franks, no Jerome Kaino, no Julian Savea, no Israel Dagg, no Sonny Bill Williams and that's just from the starting XV for the third Test. Put in the reserves and Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Aaron Cruden and Malakai Fekitoa would all be missing as well. And that's just on the All Blacks' side.

If it could be achieved a game between the two sides would be a huge drawcard and if entered into as purely a chance to provide the Lions with warm-up potential and revenue for the All Blacks it would appeal.

But please, just let it be that.

Sport no different to society

American President Donald Trump, or 45 as he is often referred to as the 45th President, can't seem to help himself.

Put a microphone in front of him and, after adjusting the microphone, he sets out to fill a space with meanderings that border on the reckless more often than not - and that was before the onset of the global pandemic – but his latest ramblings have involved the sports industry.

It's commonly acknowledged that everything he talks about has more to do with his re-election campaign which the pandemic has stopped in its tracks, than with what might be best for the citizens he represents.

According to the attached link to an article by one of the few American sports columnists able to look at issues from a global perspective, Dave Zirin, he has been talking with male sports officials about getting sport up and running as soon as possible.

Zirin said Trump's phone call with sports commissions was 'negligent, if not deadly.'

Trump said he believed the NFL season should start in September and he wanted fans back in arenas 'whenever we're ready'.

Having that happen by September would fit nicely in with the run-in to the November election with subsequent benefits from the feel-good factor for Trump.

But as Zirin points out so well, all of the discussion neglected to consider one key fact – the players.

Let's not forget that Trump is not beyond sticking his nose into the sports business by putting pressure on owners of teams to sack players who operate outside the sort of square that Trump would like to see them barricaded into. Think Colin Kaepernick.

Yet, the player unions were not represented in his communications with the commissioners of sports. No surprises there since when has player welfare, or welfare of any sort, been of concern for Trump.

Zirin also calls out the compliant American media for not holding Trump to account.

"In so many respects, Trump's cavalier attitude about resuming pro sport reflects his approach to the entire virus. He's pushing a great deal of false hope, not backed by science, and designed more to win a news cycle with thoughts of a Sugarcandy Mountain of sports constructed on the backs of our disposable athletic heroes. It also reflected through our sports media the ways in which the mainstream media, with some notable exceptions, have failed to hold this president to account."

Zirin said the media failed to call out the lies and failed in their duty to take the line that sport would return when society returned. The virus was setting the timeline, not the fanciful wishes of those who should know better.

Read Dave Zirin's column here

Doug Morgan won plenty of respect in NZ

Popular Scotland and British & Irish Lions halfback Doug Morgan died at the weekend after a long illness, aged 73.

Among his 21 caps for Scotland, and two for the Lions on their 1977 tour of New Zealand, were two famous Test matches at Eden Park in which he impressed New Zealanders with his ability, grit and determination.

The first was the Water Polo Test of 1975, the All Blacks' only Test of that year.

The game was played on a water-covered ground and life could not have been much more difficult than attempting to play halfback under such conditions.

The All Blacks won 24-0 with Bryan Williams scoring two tries and lock Hamish Macdonald aqua-planing to another with a bow wave that would have done the Queen Mary proud.

Two years later Morgan was back with the Lions in the series-deciding fourth Test in Auckland. The Lions were looking to back up their effort of winning the series as on their previous tour in 1971.

They poured the pressure on the All Blacks, who at one stage famously resorted to a three-man scrum, and while Morgan scored all the Lions' points it was a late try to flanker Lawrie Knight that secured the 10-9 win for the All Blacks.

Morgan is remembered in Scotland for managing to disrupt Welsh and Lions great Gareth Edwards in their Murrayfield win over Wales to claim a 10-9 win.

Two years later, in front of a world-record 104,000 fans at Murrayfield, the goal-kicking halfback landed three penalty goals to help his side to a 12-10 win over Wales.

He later captained Scotland and once his playing career was complete he moved into coaching working with Sir Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer as Scotland won the 1990 Grand Slam and then reached the semi-finals of the 1991 Rugby World Cup.

As head coach, he saw Scotland reach the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup in South Africa before they were beaten by the All Blacks.

McGeechan said of Morgan, "Dougie had a deep understanding of the game and was tactically very aware. I will never forget him standing on Gareth Edwards' foot to distract him whilst trying to put the ball into the scrum, an approach which stopped Wales playing and we ultimately won the game. He was also a natural goal kicker.

"His support was never better than with Jim Telfer, Derek Grant and me we had a coaching group which shared ideas, particularly in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup in 1991," he said.

Morgan also managed Scotland's Sevens side and the Scotland A team which also won a Grand Slam in 1998.

Coach Gregor Townsend said of him: "Dougie was a hugely popular figure in his time as manager of the national team, someone who enjoyed having a laugh with the players, although he kept his natural competitive instinct whenever we took him on at pool or on the golf course. He has contributed a huge amount to Scottish rugby and he'll be sorely missed."

FIFA sneezes and the sports world catches cold

Gianni Infantino - FIFA

Blow sport up and start all over?

That's one approach to the post-coronavirus pandemic sports world being touted by the world's largest sports federation – FIFA.

Speaking at the 44th Ordinary Congress of the Union of European Football Associations (better known as UEFA) just before the global pandemic took hold, FIFA president Gianni Infantino told the heads of European soccer that it was time to look into changing everything.

Infantino told the high-powered group questions that needed to be asked were directly tied to the keys for success.

How many matches can a player play in a year?

How many competitions do we have?

How many competitions should we have?

What kind of competitions do we need for the future?

Do we play too much or don't we play enough?

How can fans get what they want to see, and if possible even a little bit more?

They are questions that all sports could ask of themselves but which needed to be set aside from a calendar that was either set by chance, tradition or according to the whim of a supporter or sponsor.

Infantino later told Italian news agency ANSA, "Football will come back, and when it does, we'll celebrate coming out of a nightmare together.

"There is one lesson, however, that both you and me must have understood: the football that will come after the virus will be totally different…[more] inclusive, more social and more supportive, connected to the individual countries and at the same time more global, less arrogant and more welcoming.

"We will be better, more human and more attentive to true values," he said.

FIFA vice-president Greg Clarke, who is also president of England's Football Association, said there was a spirit of cooperation among delegates regarding the international match calendar. It was something important for the future of football and it had to be debated and discussed by all stakeholders.

The calendar was a global calendar and other issues like climate and geography had to be considered.

Swimming is one sport already in turmoil as a result of the creation of the International Swimming League (ISL), the brainchild of Ukrainian metallurgy billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin.

His organisation has taken on FINA, the financially sound body responsible for world swimming.

As a result of this move, and the rescheduling of the Olympic Games until 2021, the American who heads the 14,000-strong World Swimming Coaches Association, George Block has asked the FINA coaches' commission to completely change the way sport is contested internationally.

Block told Swimming World Magazine the northern winter season should be handed over to the Grigorishin's ISL. He said the world long-course championships should be held in either 2022 or 2023 while the universality of the sport should be adapted to follow the regional style employed by soccer.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic was an opportunity to declutter the international schedule and to re-think international swimming.

Block said there were already too many 'championships'.

"The International Federations (in all sports) have created – strictly for financial reasons – additional world championships, world cups, world qualifiers. The profits from these events grew the corruption capacity of the Ifs, but it also lessened the importance of the unique, historic and traditional regional events.

"I cannot see FINA (or any of the other Ifs) giving up their revenue-generating events, but this would be a wonderful opportunity to relook at the world calendar and rebuilt it around local events," he said.

Central to all talk would be athletes looking to make a living in their chosen sport. But having them involved in discussions could result in a better grip on reality than was the case before the pandemic and could result in a significant plan for sport's future.

November Tests shaping as crucial for world rugby

World Rugby is facing difficult decisions resulting from the north-south split in seasons and the financial implications associated with a return to international rugby.

The immediate concern is with the potential loss of the July internationals in the southern hemisphere and the associated loss of revenue for the likes of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina.

But then in the November window, there is the consideration of finishing the suspended Six Nations championship and ensuring the November tours by the southern hemisphere nations.

World Rugby president, Bill Beaumont said two options were to the forefront in their thinking but were not restricted solely to them.

One involved matches played in the northern hemisphere in November with 'an equitable sharing of revenues' (something long overdue) or possibly having Tests played in the southern hemisphere and then in the north.

The second option was seen as difficult due to restrictions of achieving a suitable time in the remainder of 2020.

"We are well aware of the financial situation in the south," Beaumont said.

"The southern federations need the tests of July, those of the north of those of November.

"But we must be united in this crisis. No one is going to make a profit during this time, everyone is going to suffer. I have full confidence in the ability of the federations to work together to find a solution. Even the northern nations will be impacted," he said.

Beaumont added that if no Tests were possible in November the situation would become 'very serious'.

"We have to wait for the situation to settle. We cannot predict an exact solution today. The Federations are going to need matches, but we must also think of the clubs that have seasons to end," he said.

The situation needed to remain under control, he warned.

"It shouldn't become the Wild West. If everyone has gold fever and runs after silver, we will not get there," he said.

Meanwhile, French Federation president Bernard Laporte said no decision would be made about postponing or cancelling the July tours until the end of April.

He added that director-general of World Rugby Brett Gosper had already said that individual unions in the southern hemisphere could not decide on the cancellations or postponement of tours.

Sports rights face interesting future

Grim news for sports with expectations of life post-coronavirus returning to high returns from the sale of television rights.

Global broadcasters have not been shuttered from the impacts of the pandemic and are all suffering from a loss of income and sponsorship.

That will have consequences in what television organisations can pay to secure rights for events.

The Times has reported an anonymous broadcasting executive who was certain there would be a lot less money for sport as companies coped with the consequences of lost revenue streams due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

On the world scene leading digital sports broadcaster, DAZN and the French pay-TV network Canal+ have said they will not pay rights holders so long as live games are suspended. The German Football League is in discussions with Germany's Sky company over how to find a solution there.

Britain's pay-TV rivals Sky Sports and BT Sport are reporting the loss of large numbers of subscribers due to the lack of live sports. If some of those subscribers decide not to return in the future, a smaller subscriber base means less money to compete in future television rights contests.

However, some hope may still exist and both media companies and sports bodies will be watching with interest as reports have surfaced saying 38 percent of males in the Gen Z and Millennial categories have said watching live sport with friends and families is what they most miss during the pandemic.

A Consumer Perception of Covid-19 report prepared by IMI's NextWave said there was 'pent-up demand' developing among fans and that led them to believe viewership would surge when live-action returns.

Media rights consultant Dan Cohen took a positive view and said demand was likely to be even higher when sport resumed and he didn't think sports officials should be too concerned about the impact on live rights income.

"If anything, networks will look to replenish their coffers by attracting new subscribers and by generating incremental advertiser dollars and nothing drives those pillars like live sports," he said.

"Live sports will be in such high demand that these valued assets will be cherished by their broadcasters," Cohen said.

He added clients near the expiry of their rights contracts should contemplate renewals with justified increases and to build in negotiated resolves to their renewals.

A couple of grumbles...

'Rugby great'…it's an obvious description of someone who has made a significant impression on the game.

So why do so many media people refer to anyone from the past as a 'rugby great?'

Is it lazy journalism, or just clickbait prescribed by whoever is assigning stories to a website or newspaper?

It's as bad as calling a Super Rugby franchise a 'club', but more of that later.

The latest instance of the application of 'rugby great' has been seen as a result of Rod Kafer's outburst about the situation in Australian rugby at the moment.

Kafer was described in several news outlets as 'Australian rugby great'.

Excuse me.

He played 12 Tests, played 37 times for the Brumbies between 1996-2001 and 34 games for Leicester between 2001-03.

By any measure, that record does not make him a 'great'.

Yes, he has played Test rugby and yes he may be fondly remembered for his contribution to the Brumbies, but great?

The two blokes who played for the Brumbies inside him, halfback George Gregan and first five-eighths Stephen Larkham, they were greats. That's why a grandstand is named after them in Canberra.

And yes, because of his work as a sideline 'expert' Kafer does have a profile among younger viewers who are not aware of his playing career and who incorrectly believe, because of that sideline role, he has a stature greater in the game than in fact.

It is not only Kafer who falls into this category, but he is the most recent example.

All that aside, it is interesting that one who has played a role in the administration of the game, as a high- performance contributor to the Australian Rugby Union, should be taking such a pot shot at the administration in the stretched times the game all over the world is facing.

 And while I'm at it, since when have New Zealand's Super Rugby franchises been clubs?

This unfortunate usage, which is yet another example

of the 'rugby speak' that afflicts the game at different times, is the very antithesis of what clubs are all about.

Clubs are for the fellowship of people with a common interest, of involvement by communities which they represent, and as a focal point for much that happens in communities. They are the heart of the game in New Zealand.

Franchises are not clubs.

Franchises are a closed shop of artificial means. 

Any contact with the public is contrived through promotion work. That is fine and a good way to keep the professional players grounded in terms of the life they enjoy. But most often it is a requirement of their contract.

Information about the running of the franchises is drip-fed through the media at pre-arranged opportunities.

Clubs have an open, transparent structure. Members are invited to annual meetings to elect their officials and to discuss issues of concern to that club.

Franchises do not hold open meetings. They don't invite media to cover their meetings and they certainly don't allow their stakeholders (fans) to take part in voting.

So to call franchises 'clubs' strikes at the very heritage of the New Zealand game that the franchises are so quick to claim for their purposes.

Cardiff remembers rugby legend Jonah Lomu

All Black legend Jonah Lomu's stint in Wales with the Cardiff Blues was like 'bringing Maradona to play for Cardiff City or the Swans.'

That was Welsh great Gareth Edwards' comment at the time when the Blues entered into a contract with Lomu in 2005. Edwards was a board member of the club at the time.

Walesonline.co.uk has told the story of his signing and time with the club.

When the discussions started Lomu had signed with North Harbour in New Zealand to return to rugby after issues with his kidney disorder which had resulted in a kidney transplant.

Having suffered a shoulder injury and missing the New Zealand season he was looking for some rugby and that's where Cardiff came into the picture.

Club chairman Peter Thomas, who was watching golf in Scotland, recounted he was rung by chief executive Bobby Norster who asked: "Lomu is available, what do you think?"

"I said, 'Do it'.

"It so happened I was on the bus at day or so later, going to play at Carnoustie, and I was sitting just in front of Sean Fitzpatrick.

"He said, 'I hear a whisper about Jonah Lomu. Is it true?'

"I said, 'Yes'.

"He said, 'Well, congratulations, because that is an unbelievable signing if you pull it off'."

Lomu was signed for 3000 pounds a week, so long as he played. He made his first appearance a month after arriving in December against Italian club Calvisano, his first game in 28 months.

Cardiff Arms Park, the Blues home ground, was sold out with 12,000 in attendance.

Thomas said: "I have always said our greatest overseas signing to this day has been Xavier Rush, for what he brought on and off the field.

"But, with Jonah, everybody on the planet knew him. For him to come to Cardiff and play for us, it was special for everyone involved."

Club coach at the time was Dai Young said his first reaction when learning the news that it was a commercial signing and he was concerned that having bought him, he, as the coach, would be forced to play him.

"In fairness, they [Thomas and Norster] said, of course, it would have a commercial side to it and it would be good and interesting to have him at the club.

"But they said you pick the team and if you don't want him in it you don't pick him, it's as simple as that," he said.

There was never any interference from the administrators, he said.

Lomu played 10 games for the club and scored one try before suffering an ankle injury playing against Borders in April 2006.

When he joined the club Young said he was quite fit weight-wise but not so much in running and condition.

"He started off slowly, but then he began to play really well and hit a bit of form.

"I don't think he was ever going to be the Jonah Lomu we had seen a few years earlier. But he was certainly on his way to being a real positive player for us before he picked up that ankle injury.

"He filled the Arms Park three or four times, so it was a good commercial decision, but it was the right decision from a rugby point of view as well. When he did play, he added value.

"He was determined to get back to where he had been and his work ethic was commendable," Young said.

However, what he remembered most was Lomu the man, how nice he was and how humble he was.

"There were no airs or graces to him. The young boys looked up to him and worshipped him, but he was very comfortable in their company. You always saw him in the canteen spending time with them.

"When you meet a genuine legend of the game, they sometimes don't live up to expectations, but he exceeded everything you want in a person.

"I was blown away by his humility, the way he handled himself and what a gentleman he was. He had time for everybody. He was just a real good guy," he said.

Team captain Rhys Williams, a fullback for Wales, had met and been photographed with Lomu when touring New Zealand as a schoolboy with Wales Schools.

"I remember the first day he arrived, it was almost like the same feeling again when I met him as a teenager. It was just like meeting one of your heroes again. It was similar to when I played against Christian Cullen when he came over to Munster and the same as when you meet Gareth Edwards for the first time.

"They are people you grow up idolising and you are just in awe," he said.

Williams said Lomu had time for everyone in the side while when he got the ball on the field the whole stadium was on tenterhooks.

"I remember at the start of his last game, against the Borders, he made a little shimmy and a break to around the outside of somebody and I was like 'Oh, wow, he's coming back'. You could almost see a change in his pace and in the way he could run and manoeuvre," he said.

But to the players, it was Lomu's off-field contribution that stood out.

"When Jonah went back home, he left his massive ghetto blaster beatbox for our gym because it was much better than the little hi-fi we had.

"He left his TV for one of the Academy players and gave his sofa to Lee Thomas, who was a young kid at the time. He was just such a likeable guy and so generous," he said.

Edwards said there had been a lot of critical comment over signing Lomu who was past his best.

But he said, "Make no mistake, Jonah was worth every single penny, for his contribution on and off the pitch."

Apart from his playing impact, Edwards said off the field it was the inspiration he provided for all the side.

"Every day in training, the players watched the enormous effort he put in, how he conducted himself, his mannerism and general professionalism.

"The point I'm trying to make is not only was he a great player, he was a great person too," Edwards said.