Specialist learning staff to strike over pay and conditions
All Black captain Ardie Savea spoke to media before the final test in the French series.
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NZ Herald
16 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Auckland Premier Rugby: Ponsonby Rugby Club legend Joe Royal to play 150th game in Gallaher Shield final
While so much of New Zealand's rugby ecosystem revolves around the pyramid leading up to the All Blacks, a Ponsonby Rugby Club stalwart's journey to a special milestone shows the romanticism of the grassroots game is far from dead. The Ponies – the moniker for all Ponsonby club members –
Otago Daily Times
16 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
All Blacks depth tracking OK for 2027
All Blacks depth ... Apparently they call it Project 4-4-4. Scott Robertson wants to have four test-quality players in each position by the time the All Blacks roll up to the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027. So the aim is to go four deep, all over the field, over four years in a bid to win a fourth World Cup. Let us, then, go forth (sorry) and see how that mission is unfolding. I include players who are injured. You cannot take 60 players to a World Cup, but for this exercise, I have named four different men in each spot. Loosehead prop: Tamaiti Williams, Ethan de Groot, Ollie Norris, George Bower. No issues at all. Xavier Numia another name. Tighthead prop: Tyrel Lomax, Fletcher Newell, Pasilio Tosi, Ofa Tu'ungafasi. Two strong options but Tosi is still a project and Tu'ungafasi is not getting any younger. Hooker: Codie Taylor, Samisoni Taukei'aho, Asafo Aumua, Brodie McAlister. Very decent quartet, and with George Bell, Bradley Slater and New Zealand under-20 hooker Manumaua Letiu in reserve. Lock (naming eight to cover both starting spots): Scott Barrett, Tupou Vaa'i, Fabian Holland, Patrick Tuipolotu, Sam Darry, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Josh Lord, Isaia Walker-Leawere. Very strong depth. Blindside flanker: Samipeni Finau, Ethan Blackadder, Simon Parker, TK Howden. Still major question marks here. Openside flanker: Ardie Savea, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Dalton Papali'i, Peter Lakai. Not the depth there used to be. No 8: Wallace Sititi, Christian Lio-Willie, Luke Jacobson, Hoskins Sotutu. Fine if Sititi stays healthy. Jacobson and Sititi also options at No6, obviously. Cullen Grace in the loose mix somewhere.... is not bad Halfback: Cam Roigard, Cortez Ratima, Noah Hotham, Finlay Christie. Strong, and with Folau Fakatava and Kyle Preston also around, though Roigard a very clear first-choice. First five: Beauden Barrett, Damian McKenzie, Stephen Perofeta, Josh Jacomb. Not bad. But the reality is Richie Mo'unga may be the man come 2027. Second five: Jordie Barrett, Quinn Tupaea, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Dallas McLeod. Decent. Centre: Anton Lienert-Brown, Billy Proctor, Braydon Ennor, Bailyn Sullivan. Proctor needs to do more to put pressure on ALB. Left wing: Rieko Ioane, Caleb Clarke, Leicester Fainga'anuku, Caleb Tangitau. Would not surprise to see the latter two be preferred by 2027. Right wing: Sevu Reece, Emoni Narawa, Chay Fihaki, Leroy Carter. Work in progress. Fullback: Will Jordan, Ruben Love, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Callum Harkin. Had to reach for the fourth spot with Shaun Stevenson taking off. Overall, I would say depth in most positions is tracking OK. Perhaps the question is how many truly world-class players the All Blacks will have in their best XV by the time the 2027 Rugby World Cup kicks off. Savea, Jordan, Jordie Barrett and Williams lead the way, and Roigard, Sititi and Holland are on track, but other positions are not so clear. Lions by plenty The Last Word a wee while ago: Yeah, nah, Wallabies are getting better and they will nick the first test. The Last Word today: Er, good to see this column's predictions are as on point as ever. Wallabies are average. Lions could afford to blow some opportunities and still win comfortably. They will complete a 3-0 test series sweep with ease. News of the week The jaw dropped when I heard Sky TV had bought TV3 for a single gold coin. That was immediately followed by the thought: what does this mean for sports fans in this country? An assumption is that Sky will use TV3 for a chunk — small, but still significant — of its major sporting content, especially rugby, and that could be cracking news for Kiwi sports fans. Free-to-air broadcasting remains an essential tool to get eyes on sports. Look at what the unexpected leap back to TVNZ did for cricket. Modern cricket etc Mitchell Owen is one of the new names to watch in world cricket. The 23-year-old tyro made his debut for Australia in a T20 against the West Indies this week and promptly smacked a match-winning 50 off 27 balls. But what I found most interesting was this paragraph on the Fox Sports website, highlighting the reality of modern cricket for players who pull on many different team shirts a year. Owen "became one of T20 cricket's most in-demand talents after smacking a 39-ball century during January's Big Bash League final against the Sydney Thunder, helping the Hobart Hurricanes win their maiden title. The right-hander has since made cameos in South Africa's SA20, the Pakistan Super League, the Indian Premier League and the United States' Major League Cricket." Basketball brouhaha Anyone interested in the fight for women's athletes to get better resourced should be watching the WNBA right now. The American basketball league is poised to explode with a US$2.2billion rights deal kicking in next year, and with Caitlin Clark — arguably the world's most marketable female athlete — attracting record crowds. Yet WNBA players share just 9% of the league's revenue, a rather shocking figure when you consider NBA men's players share 49% of their league's revenue. The WNBA players wore shirts with PAY US WHAT YOU OWE US on the front at their all-star game this week. This is going to be a fascinating story to watch. Huge, huge, huge It is not like Donald Trump to get involved in something that should not really concern his office. The US President has threatened to derail a deal to build a new football stadium in Washington, DC, unless the NFL team ditches the Commanders nickname and goes back to Redskins, Reuters reports. The Washington NFL dropped the Redskins name in 2020 after decades of criticism that it was a racial slur. The team moved from Washington to suburban Landover, Maryland, in 1997, but earlier this year reached an agreement with the local District of Columbia government to return to the city with a new stadium expected to open in 2030. "I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker 'Washington Commanders', Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "I won't make a deal for them to build a stadium in Washington." Made me think about the Crusaders cleverly avoiding that intense pressure to change their name six years ago. Birthday of the week Kees Junior Meeuws is 51 today. A top bloke, a pioneer as a new breed of mobile prop with Otago, the Highlanders and the All Blacks, a lover of art, a real estate agent, a commentator, a family man. And I hope Wikipedia is correct about the middle name.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
NZ Rugby faces tough search for CEO to lead both pro and amateur sides
They will need knowledge of media rights negotiations, an understanding of digital content and its pathway to monetisation, and they will have to be capable of managing relationships with some of the world's largest consumer brands. But this is only part of the job, not all of it. There's another side entirely, which is presiding over the community game – selling rugby to the masses. That's an ambassadorial job – running a never-ending PR campaign to promote the holistic benefits of playing rugby: the resilience it breeds, the networks it forges, the joy it brings. It's also, though, a political tightrope that constantly must be walked, managing provincial unions and other stakeholders to ensure there is harmony in the ecosystem. Departing New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson. Photo / Photosport It's a job that requires someone to be as comfortable in gumboots on a muddy sideline as they are in leather loafers around the board table. The search will likely begin in a few weeks, once a global recruitment agency has been approved to conduct it, and NZR chair David Kirk has given prospective candidates clear guidance that this is a job that will straddle both the professional and amateur worlds of rugby. 'There will be a lot of people who would love to run a global sporting brand – the All Blacks' global sporting brand,' he says. 'But they are not coming just to do that. It is way more than that because you have the community element to it. 'They are coming to run New Zealand community rugby. People with only a professional sporting background coming thinking they are running a professional sport will not be appropriate.' Kirk is cognitive that, arguably, he's one of the few people who has the relevant experience across the variety of disciplines the job will entail, but laughed off any suggestion that as the chair of the board, he's in the wrong role. He's not at the right stage in his life to be a full-time executive – so if not him, is there anyone with a similar breadth of experience that presents as an obvious candidate? There are a few who have potential – people who tick a few but not all the boxes. Former All Black Conrad Smith has a deep understanding of the high-performance landscape, having won two World Cups and working for the International Rugby Players' Association, while he also volunteers as a grassroots referee in Taranaki. As a qualified lawyer, he's bright, engaging and worldly, but he doesn't have experience in the corporate world managing or leading a complex organisation. New Zealand All Blacks centre Conrad Smith in action at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Photo / Brett Phibbs Former ACC chief executive Scott Pickering was on the shortlist to take the NZR job back in 2019 but lost out to incumbent Mark Robinson. He's an experienced director/executive, but isn't steeped in community rugby, although he is currently on the board of Bowls New Zealand. One New Zealand chief executive Jason Paris has the corporate experience – he was also the chief executive of TV3 – but while he's a self-declared passionate sports and rugby follower, there's a question mark about how attuned he'd be to what is really going on at the community level. Former Sky chief executive Martin Stewart negotiated the current broadcast deal for the pay TV broadcaster and has worked in executive roles for the Football Association in England. But would he want to return to living in New Zealand having left the country in early 2021? And the issue of living in New Zealand, and knowing the country's relationship with rugby and the All Blacks is a critical part of the consideration. The All Blacks are a global sporting brand with a uniquely Kiwi ethos, and the 'gosh, I was just lucky out there' understated charm of Beauden Barrett is a million miles away from the trash-talking, hype-it-up narratives and characters that dominate American sports and indeed football. A non-Kiwi may battle to get their head around the All Blacks culture and hiring a New Zealander who has been working overseas is fraught with challenges, as evidenced by the fact Craig Fenton, who had been in Europe for 20 years, only lasted 11 months in his role as head of New Zealand Rugby Commercial. It is, therefore, going to be an incredibly difficult role to fill, which is why Kirk says that it may be that the board takes a broader view, and that it might look at balancing the impending appointments of the chief executive, chief commercial officer and chief financial officer, This could ensure the executive team has all the required skill-sets and experiences, rather than trying to find a unicorn. 'We will probably go to one search consultant for all three roles, but the CEO will be the leading search,' he says. 'But we will also run the CFO and CCO a bit behind because ideally we will have identified the CEO and they will be in a situation where they will be able to take part in the process for the appointment of the CFO and CCO. 'We are looking to balance the requirements across the three roles and it may not be possible to find one person who can do it all. 'There are not many people who have had that broad experience that is just a fact so we have to make sure we have a balanced senior leadership team that can meet all requirements.' Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand's most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.
