Another week another high profile SH player goes north.

 It's been getting very hard to keep up with all the transfers recently... ...but Southern hemisphere rugby could be going the way of the dinosaurs at this rate...

Just in the last few weeks only...
Charlie Faumuina > > ToulouseCheslin Kolbe       >>  ToulouseAlesana Tuilagi     >>  ToulonSemi Radrada      > > ToulonAaron Cruden       > > MontpellierFacundo Isa         > > Toulouse
Ben Smith            >> ???Israel Dag            >> ?
Its like death by a thousand cuts..

 Useless feccking NH cant make enough decent players so someone else has to grow them !

 Bwahahahahaahhahahaa weren't these the same kbbs that said nz players unlike SA players were loyal. But here we see them deserting in droves. Plus the fact NZ currency is far stronger than SA. Hahhahahahahahahaha and the kbbs don't even realise how this has come back to bite them on their lardy Bums! 
Beeno as always providing a mirror of the awful image of what a kiwi looks like! Hahahhahahahahaha. JW you must admit I have you kbbs on a string! The exception being warped DUD you I have on a leesch with a muzzle!

 Tawera Kerr-Barlow targeted by French club 9:28 AM Sunday Jan 22, 2017
All Blacks halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Tawera Kerr-Barlow is the latest All Black linked with a move overseas.

French news outlet L'Equipe have reported Toulon's interest in the 25-test All Black, as the club are reportedly on the hunt for a new number nine.

Kerr-Barlow has drawn interest after Toulon target and Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw signed with Clermont and Englishman Richard Wigglesworth elected to remain with Saracens.

The reports follow teammate Aaron Cruden's move to France, signing a three-year deal with Top 14 side Montpellier.

Israel Dagg has also been linked with the French glamour club Toulon, who currently field former All Black Ma'a Nonu.

 Wardad
 
Status: Rugby Legend 
Posts: 4566RE: Another week another high profile SH player goes north.
January 24, 2017, 08:31:19

 Useless feccking NH cant make enough decent players so someone else has to grow them !

Or maybe more and more players, just like many supporters, are getting sick of this fecked up tournament called Super Rugby.
Until very recently very few on here gave a crap about the Rugby Champions Cup and the 6N. Nowadays many more posters on here actually seems to be following it more closely.

"Until very recently very few on here gave a crap about the Rugby Champions Cup and the 6N. Nowadays many more posters on here actually seems to be following it more closely."

Absolute rubbish. I have been posting and reading other posts on the 6N for years now.

Yes, the Champions Cup is new but there's a very simple explanation for that . . . Suprbru are running a Fantasy Comp on it so many of us who wouldn't normally care much for the Champions Cup but who enjoy Fantasy Rugby are following it closely for the first time.

Key words......  " very few ". 
Superbru has been running the 6N and the Champions Cup (previously Heineken Cup) and even the Challenge Cup (previously the Amlin Cup) for ages.  

The Super Rugby has become a quota tournament. This was all brought on by the Kings- who forced the competition to be changed.The draw is done for "equality and representation" to ensure that 2 SA teams get to the quarters.

South Africa must only have 4 teams max. (If is debatable if we have the backline resources to make 4 teams that are competitive).

Welcome to the world of professional sports folks.
Most sports players have a very narrow window in which to fill their coffers.
Every player has their eyes set on representing their country but once that has been achieved the next logical step is to ensure that your financial needs for the future are met and secured.
Some make the move because they are overlooked for political reasons and will never make the national side. But fortunately, someone somewhere has recognized their potential and is prepared to support that skill by offering financial incentives in return for that skill.
Who in their right mind would not accept real money as opposed to the SA Rand
No different to us folks changing careers or moving for financial reasons.
So, unfortunately, we are just going to have to suck it up.
After all, the call is your's if you wish to watch or not.  





  

 @ceradyne,

"Superbru has been running the 6N and the Champions Cup (previously Heineken Cup) and even the Challenge Cup (previously the Amlin Cup) for ages."

what SuperBru has been running for ages is the Prediction game, but what is new and what Rooi is refering to, is the Champions Cup-Fantasy game. Some people in here are playing the Fantasy game in a ruckersforum-pool and we are, mainly, who talk about this competition this year

 "Or maybe more and more players, just like many supporters, are getting sick of this fecked up tournament called Super Rugby."

this has nothing to do with the players exodus,... it's all about money,... the NH teams have some TV revenues that the SH teams can only dream with,... the SH cannot compete and never will be able to,.... NZ with its 5 million people, or Aus with its 25 million (but being the Union the 4th or fifth sport), can never compete with the revenues that the TV gives in France (65 million and rugby 2nd sport) or Great Britain (60 million and 2nd sport)

Spot on AJ. 
No turning around the ship at this point, will just have to learn to live with it and the inevitable unfortunate consequences for the level of play in the SH comps. Let us hope it doesn't get as dire as it is for the PI domestic rugby.
With even NZ now starting to feel the pain, maybe it will put to rest the "local players only for the national team" argument as a solution to the quality of the Bok team as it is clearly not as much of a deterrent as some suggest, and probably an unfair one to the professional player at that.

 @ABasquefan
"...this has nothing to do with the players exodus,... it's all about money,... the NH teams have some TV revenues that the SH teams can only dream with,..."

You are preaching to the converted. I have been saying that for a long time, but have frequently been told that that was just a BS Saffa excuse. It was the policy of selecting overseas players for the Bok team, I was told, hence my "new" suggestion that the players also have to be sick of the Super Rugby circus. 

 the only way to stop this continous exodus that in a near future could even kill the SH rugby is in the hands of the RFU and the France Federation,... if they don't limit in a way or another the number of foreigners who can play (as the Irish Union has done), no one can make anything against it

The RFU and specially the France Federation have a very good reason to limit it, this exodus is affecting their national teams,... the French teams currently playing the European Cup are playing it with 2, 3 or 4 French players in their starting XV,.... e.g Montpellier played against Leinster with only 2 French players while Leinster was playing with 13 Irish in the starting XV

I agree with AJ we are headed finally to a truly professional sport. The main club action will be up North.....just as in soccer. There will be secondary tournaments around the world, but as in soccer top players will ply their trade up North. Again as in soccer, there will be regional internationals, but the time frame will be condensed. Then for WCs players will have to be integrated into national teams, as in soccer. All this will take power away from political influences and create a level coaching playing field.....which will help save South African rugby. I'm all for it.

 We should move away from the devide between SANZAR and the 6N rugby areas with separate provincial or regional teams, towards a global club tournament.  North and south should mix ot up...which would lead to shared revenue. Smaller countries can't compete with Britain and the EU. We need to get our rugby into the living rooms of the European public.  

 Useless feccking NH cant make enough decent players so someone else has to grow them !

Growing players will not make it. It is about selling tickets, putting people on seats and behind screens.
As it stands, each country has one national team, which means that roughly 50 players see their image boosted by international squad selections.

A decent non internationally selected player image is worth less than a decent internationally selected player.

International team images sell differently. NZ sits at the top.

A NH country could grow 300 top level players, 250 out of them will not sell as much as NZ players.
People pay to see names. The black shirt sells.

  North and south should mix ot up...which would lead to shared revenue. Smaller countries can't compete with Britain and the EU.

Do not forget to invite Samao, Fiji, Tonga. Oh, no, wait, not them...

 Bull. The best players will migrate towards the best pay.

 

Then for WCs players will have to be integrated into national teams, as in soccer. All this will take power away from political influences and create a level coaching playing field.....which will help save South African rugby.

I'm all for it.

It will sink SA rugby. Part of the advantage SH features over NH was a higher level of cohesiveness.

Once players are gone playing full year in various clubs, the national team loses any cohesiveness.

Football has been showing that, the concentration of players in Europe has made WCs a european matter. Countries that are able to keep their players in their domestic league, if possible in the same team, are given a bonus.

Making it worse, players also set target to be signed in by a club first and they develop qualities to fit the club demand.

Prioritization is another weight. Players will give priority to their club and the main competition their club makes revenues from. WCs will be secondary if actually players wish to play them as they might want to dedicate themselves to their club.

It is one of the many reasons SA rugby must be stopped.

 Bull. The best players will migrate towards the best pay.

That was a reference to that mixing up. Mixing up appears as a solution as a way to get SA rugby going on.

Super rugby forgets to invite SA, TO and FI.

NH must not invite any SH club. They have enough clubs on their own and the inclusion of SH clubs will be done at the expense of NH clubs.

SH clubs are what? 20 years old? Clubs in the NH have one hundred year history.
Sacrifying NH clubs for the sake of saving SA rugby...

.. given how poorly the NH teams did at the last RWC and NZ's world domination of rugby, it was inevitable that the NH would come crawling to us for our best talent... ...the dopey SARU not helping matters by destroying Super Rugby in the SH through greed and incompetence and killing the goose that laid the golden egg...
 ...good though to see NZ players carve up the weak NH backlines the way players like Piutau are doing....Before Piutau ,Nonu,  Aki and Carter started playing up north Kiwis had little interest in NH rugby... but hard for anyone now not to acknowledge that the quality of rugby has dramatically improved thanks to us...

NZ is also in a unique position due to rugby being our national sport...we are strong at grass roots level so can easily cope with losses as we've been a rugby factory for the rest of the world for some time, producing quality players and the best coaches...

...but not so sure how strong SA is in comparison at grass roots level but NH rugby by it's self won't save SA rugby unless you have the quality players coming through...even then they will be at a disadvantage having to compete for contracts with a superior product i.e the best NZ and the PI's have to offer - the days of players heading north in retirement may be over...with the Kiwis taking over the Saffas will have to lift their game...

The NH club game will evolve into the Premier League and Spanish league. Most current International players will play in those leagues. SH club rugby doesn't have the financial strength to compete. The impact of this is that less effective rugby cultures like Argentina and South Africa will benefit. Strong rugby cultures like NZ and smaller talent pools like Oz that have benefited from smart admin will be the losers.

 ...good though to see NZ players carve up the weak NH backlines the way players like Piutau are doing....Before Piutau ,Nonu,  Aki and Carter started playing up north Kiwis had little interest in NH rugby... but hard for anyone now not to acknowledge that the quality of rugby has dramatically improved thanks to us...

What quality of what rugby?

Clubs want to sign high profile players. Fans desire to fancy over line ups. It sells tickets. The marketing quality of NH clubs has undubiously been improved.
It is not connected with the player quality. In fact, the nationality itself sells. Fans desire to watch certain nationality players.
In football, it is well known for South American players, especially Brazilian players.
Fans wanted their club to buy a brazilian player, no matter how good it was.
As the trend expands, it means sooner or later that SH hot prospects are going to head north to be bench players. This is one next stage.

The trend can potentially turned into a disaster for NZ as players are not going to be signed because they are ABs but because they are NZ.

 . given how poorly the NH teams did at the last RWC and NZ's world domination of rugby, it was inevitable that the NH would come crawling to us for our best talent... ...the dopey SARU not helping matters by destroying Super Rugby in the SH through greed and incompetence and killing the goose that laid the golden egg...

Big confusion. NZ dominates the international side rugby. And this, without being able to back that domination economically. NZ cant afford hurting England, France, Japan etc as NZ need them as partners. That distorts the field as NZ must lose in order to encourage its partners.

It is the professional era and what matters is where the resources are channelled to. In rugby, the resources are channelled toward NH clubs.

NZ rugby is the AB team and the international side scene importance is bound to fade away. WCs will remain as an appendix to the core.

It will go as football went: international football is weak, football occurs at club level.

 NZ is also in a unique position due to rugby being our national sport...we are strong at grass roots level so can easily cope with losses as we've been a rugby factory for the rest of the world for some time, producing quality players and the best coaches...

...but not so sure how strong SA is in comparison at grass roots level but NH rugby by it's self won't save SA rugby unless you have the quality players coming through...

NH clubs want this. The AB as a team are going to be destroyed. Destruction usually leaves something. There will be something left aside to be milked.
Furthering the industrialization of NZ players is one of these things. If the entire NZ population could be enrolled, pushed through the ranks, drilled in rugby, this will serve NH clubs.

They will keep hiring NZ players for the sake of hiring ticket sellers.

What is going to be lost is the way the AB team is built.
Sooner or later, the new AB team building way will go through the NH clubs. The selection will be determined by taking the best players, the best players being the players who play in the best clubs.
Fans will demand the selection of this player because they love the way he plays in their favourite club.

Additionally, NZ is going to lose the direction of training and shaping their players. The destination will no longer be the AB team but NH clubs.
It means that any player trained in NZ must meet the image NH clubs think of NZ players.
NZ will lose their capacity to think the AB team and potentially make it evolve.

It is already in action for other nations: Georgia is appreciated for their forwards so this impairs the potential to train a back line.

There will be an AB team in the future. As shown by SA, it is not about terminating rugby. Excellent men do not want to terminate rugby.

 Fecking NH club rugby is boring as hell ,the only good bits worth watching involve SH talent .I w ould rather watch NZ teams and even the wee lions carving it up in the Super Rugby than subject myself to NH rugby.

 Indeed. That is why the point about improving the quality in NH rugby must be relativized.

People's priority is not about quality rugby, it is about fancying over big names. It is like fantasy rugby applied to clubs.

For NZ, it is a disaster as players will not be hired for their skills first but because they are NZers.

The same happened for Brazil in football, even though the trend is waning. Looking at the effects it had on their international team and what is and remains a country passionated and dedicated to football shows NZ future.

Brazil, despite an extremelly large pool of players, struggled to put up an international side that can play football together.