RUGBY: MPs coming to play

DOUG LAING
Napier will feature in a big-match build-up to the Rugby World Cup in France - but there's unlikely to be an All Black in sight.
The match between the New Zealand Parliamentarians and the Eskview Golden Oldies, at Petane Domain, Bay View, on July 22, will be part of the MPs' preparations for a now regular pre RWC six-nations rugby tournament for Parliamentarians, in France, in September.
The closest thing to an All Black, in the absence of any past, present or future ABs in the current 121 seats in Parliament, will be Napier MP Chris Tremain, son of late former All Black and 1960s Hawke's Bay hero Kel Tremain.
A former senior club rugby player, who threatens to bring brother and former Hawke's Bay captain Simon Tremain out of an injury-enforced retirement to join the team, his team-mates come from across the political spectrum, although there is a decided National Party influence, posing the question of who actually will be the Opposition that day.
From the blue corner come National MPs Craig Foss, Murray McCully, John Carter, Wayne Mapp, Gerry Brownlie, Nathan Guy, and Jonathan Coleman, while the red of the Labour Government is expected to be represented by just Shane Jones and Damien O'Connor.
Other MPs in the squad are NZ First's Ron Mark and Maori Party member Te Ururoa Flavell.
Carter professes the greatest achievement on the rugby field, a dropped goal for Northland against Auckland at Eden Park.
Minister of Maori Affairs and Labour Party MP for Ikaroa- Rawhiti Parekura Horomia, an East Coast representative prop in his younger days, balances the cross-party scales to a degree, albeit as the honorary coach.
There is no sign of anyone from the others inhabitants of the House - the Greens, ACT, United Future, and Progressive, nor new Independents Phillip Field or Gordon Copeland.
Although there are apparently women in Parliament with no shortage of opinion on the all-male aspects of the lineup, Tremain says none has taken up the challenge to don a jersey and correct the gender imbalance.
The Eskview match is one of six the parliamentarians are playing in the build-up to their tournament in France which will be played under Golden Oldies rules. The games include a curtainraiser to a North Harbour Air New Zealand Cup match in August.
Tremain highlights the eventual trip abroad is no World Cup junket. The players get to watch New Zealand's opening game, against Italy in Marseilles on September 8, before returning home for the business MPs are usually chosen for.
The match at Petane Domain will help raise funds for a sewer line from the Eskview clubrooms, sparking a comparison between what the MPs would be playing for and what the real Men in Black get.
Meanwhile, former Napier-based Labour List MP Russell Fairbrother may be prepared to help make up the numbers for the parliamentary team. The team does call on others in the Beehive fraternity, but not to the same extent as France, where French rugby coach Bernard Laporte will become Junior Minister for Sport after the World Cup, although he is not a member of Parliament.
Fairbrother, who says he played rugby until the age of 26 - 34 years ago - is in East Timor for a week, but hopes to have a training-night workout next week with Hawke's Bay senior fourths first-round champions Maraenui, where he is club patron.