COMMENT
It should be the question exercising the minds of the mighty and powerful at the Rugby Union this week.
No, not whether 32 players are enough for a four-game trip to Europe.
And no, not how are they going to settle on their 12 teams for the 2006 semi-pro premier NPC competition.
The issue the union bigwigs should be discussing is, drum roll please, how to capitalise on All Black back Ma'a Nonu's fashion sense.
If the union are clever, they will realise Nonu and his revelations that eyeliner will take pride of place in his rugby kit bag for the foreseeable future could open up a whole new market.
For too long now, rugby has been seen for some odd reason as the manliest of sporting pursuits. All huff, puff, grunt and bump. The odd raised fist did that image no harm.
Somehow that activity didn't seem to gel with the need for catching the eye of the fashionable set during the game, let alone after it.
But now Nonu has shown the way to capture a slice of the population who would previously not have know the difference between a rugby ball and a canoe.
Step forward the men and women of the fashion industry. There is untapped potential for the Rugby Union here. So, in the spirit of taking a positive position on the versatile Hurricanes outside back's enterprising new look, here are five ways the game's governors could charge through the door prized open by Nonu and his makeup:
* As the All Blacks are en-route to Rome for their test against Italy, they should play the test, then trundle north to Milan, a world fashion capital, and take their new look to the runway. Just think, "here they are, ladies and gentlemen, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford and ... Piri Weepu".
* Sign up as the new face(s) of Revlon.
* Instead of passing on tips on kicking, tackling and scrummaging to the boys at coaching clinics, spend time with their sisters on the finer points of enhancing their natural glow.
* Forget contracts for beer rights and get into the women's favourites, RTDs, cocktails and Pimms.
* Dance, rather than jog, on to the field before tests, thereby showing their slick moves are not confined to the dummy scissors, rolling maul or cutout pass.
You could not help wondering when Nonu was making public his desire to keep one step ahead in what he believes to be the trendy stakes what his team-mates will make of it on their flight to Rome this weekend.
It's one thing to do something barmy when playing for Wellington, who for much of their recent NPC life have been an oddball assortment capable of producing the dazzling and the dumb, inside any given minute.
It's quite another to pass this off as the new face of All Black rugby with all the rich history that entails.
Part of me wondered if Nonu - who did seem to have an odd glint in his eyes when being interviewed on television this week - wasn't taking a giant dose of the Michael out of the rest of us.
I also wonder if some of the older, wiser, seemingly more sensible heads in the squad, such as Chris Jack, Richie McCaw, Jono Gibbes, Greg Somerville and especially Anton Oliver - and perhaps we now know the real reason he's on this trip - might find the time to quietly take young Ma'a aside on the plane and gently suggest that there are certain things you don't do when you're an All Black.
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