Doug Laing: The national game. Or is it?

Whangarei's Cameron Street mall was in party mode ahead of the rugby clash between the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians at Toll Stadium. Photo/file

Some of the footy in the early stage of the Lions Tour may not have been the most glamorous, but the rare voyage of the invaders from the northern hemisphere still seems to be gripping rugby's army of followers.

There is, however, still a feeling of being left out as the tour veers away from the course of the big Lions, and Springbok tours, which used to take such tourists to almost every corner of the country, or certainly to every single union.

This Lions tour, however, ignores the whole of the east coast of the North Island, as it is recognised from East Cape to Cape Palliser, containing four of the country's 26 rugby unions. The nearest game to Napier and Hastings is 3-4 hours away, for those of us who stick to the speed limit.

It also ignores the top and west of the South Island, which includes three provincial rugby unions.

Reasons for the concentration of the matches not too far from the main trunk of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, are purely money-based, which is something that is getting up the nose of a good many rugby players who yearn for the chance to see their own grassroots heroes playing against touring national sides on home soil.

Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Nelson, and Invercargill, which each boast grounds that can accommodate crowds upwards of 16,000, can all feel forgotten, but there has to be some thought for the likes of such places as Masterton, Whanganui, Timaru, and Greymouth, which have been wiped from the tour schedule altogether.
In days when Rugby World Cup has widened the scope of international rugby, the scope for more tours, by more countries, has also widened.

If developing rugby globally is part of the RWC exercise, then where are the tours by emerging countries, which could all do with a bit of rough and tumble about the paddocks of provincial New Zealand, and a bit of a show for the locals?

It is, after all, the national game.