Sam Whitelock, pictured with coach Scott Robertson, is one of several Crusaders in the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
Sam Whitelock, pictured with coach Scott Robertson, is one of several Crusaders in the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
In a week in which their favourite son was once again passed over for the head coaching role, the people of Christchurch may have mixed feelings about the All Blacks being in town for the first time since 2016.
The city's relationship with the team in the last decadehas certainly been complex if not conflicted and while many New Zealanders appear ready to draw a line over the All Blacks head coaching saga and get behind the team, many in Christchurch might not be willing to move on quite yet.
Christchurch and the wider Canterbury region is New Zealand rugby's epicentre.
For much of this millennium it felt like Canterbury owned the National Provincial Championship such was their domination and of course, there has been no club remotely as successful as the Crusaders in the history of Super Rugby.
It's a region steeped in success – a legacy built on astute talent identification, patient and clever development programmes and the ability to maintain a culture of excellence which produces good people as much as it does good players.
New Zealand would be a little lost without Canterbury and the power of its network, and yet through circumstances inflicted by nature and exacerbated by political bureaucracy and procrastination, Christchurch does not have infrastructure to match its status as the country's rugby power base and as such, the All Blacks have played just three tests in the city since 2010.
Richie Mo'unga is another product of the Canterbury system. Photo / Photosport
The juxtaposition of Canterbury being the country's dominant rugby force and Auckland being the home of the All Blacks doesn't sit easily with everyone.
And it's not helped by the fact that having won six successive Super Rugby titles since 2017, Crusaders coach Scott Robertson continues to be left outside of the All Blacks coaching team.
This isn't to denigrate the merits of Ian Foster remaining as head coach or to dispute the decision made by the New Zealand Rugby board last week to keep him there, but Robertson is a popular figure, resonates with the Crusaders fan base and indeed with much of the country and it's become easy to see why, after the All Blacks endured such a poor start to the year, that there may be some tension in Christchurch this week.
Locals will be wondering what their man must do to graduate to the national team and if that seems a little parochial, it's because it is.
Fierce loyalty for local figures has long been the way in New Zealand rugby and similar tension plagued the All Blacks in 2009 when NZR retained Graham Henry as coach ahead of long-serving Crusaders supremo Robbie Deans.
It was tension that peaked in June of that year when the All Blacks began the year with a loss to France in Dunedin, before producing a dire 80 minutes against Italy in Christchurch.
These tests were set against the backdrop of the Global Financial Crisis – with petrol prices having tipped over $2 a litre for the first time in history – and simmering discontent boiled into transparent rage in Christchurch.
Fans there had seen NZR decimate their 2007 Super Rugby title defence by allowing Henry to take 22 players out of the first seven rounds – the majority of which were Crusaders.
When the Crusaders then bounced back to win the 2008 title, Deans, the next day, began his role as Wallabies head coach as he'd missed out on the All Blacks job.
When NZR then chose to play France at the barely fit for purpose Carisbrook, gave Wellington two prime tests, and took a Bledisloe Cup test to Eden Park despite it being a building site due to major redevelopment work, and gave Christchurch the worst fixture of the year, it was maybe no wonder fans chucked empty beer cans at the All Blacks coaching box on the way out of the ground.
Things aren't so dissimilar now. We have a cost-of-living crises, high inflation, petrol closer to $3 a litre, a sense of grievance that the Crusaders haven't been fully rewarded for their success and the city granted the right to host the least attractive of the six home fixtures this year.
To further complicate and conflict matters, NZR is led by a chief executive who played for the Crusaders, a chairman who is Canterbury to the core and has a high-performance manager who cut his teeth in the region.
The All Blacks have promoted long-serving Crusaders coach Jason Ryan to be in charge of their forwards and the squad is full of talent developed in the region.
Yet the one man so many in the city feel is responsible for so much of the Crusaders success and who has played such a prominent role in nurturing so many of the All Blacks' best players, continues to be overlooked for a role with the national team.
A complicated relationship appears set to remain complicated for a while longer.
