Chris Rattue: Just $6 million for Carter? A bargain

Dan Carter. Photo / Getty Images

Dan Carter made the unwatchable almost watchable in Napier. Almost, but not quite.

The best first five-eighths of all time celebrated his new NZRU deal by leading an avalanche of bombs and drop goal attempts against the Chiefs.

The Crusaders' tactics were so blatant that you wondered if Carter had signed for England. Or maybe Carter was preparing the ground for New Zealand's World Cup campaign, reminding everyone that a win-at-all-costs mentality comes at a cost.

This was the Crusaders at their best, finding a way to win under duress without playing their best.

The Chiefs were abysmal. Supposedly desperate for a win to keep their remote playoff chances alive, they didn't launch one meaningful attack against a Crusaders outfit smashed by injury and exhausted by constant travel.

Carter - and a monstrous Crusaders scrum in the second half - was the major bright spot in a game of misdirected energy and cumbersome attack.

He had to be kept in New Zealand rugby, even if the lack of evenhandedness in the NZRU's treatment of players sticks in the craw on a number of levels.

The union plays favourites with a golden few without offering any degree of flexibility to other players, many of whom have been faithful servants - to use the old parlance - to the game.

By controlling every last cent of the player contract money, the NZRU also denies individual franchises the chance to do innovative deals that suit them rather than the almighty overlords. This central office dictatorship has squashed the tribalism out of New Zealand rugby, diluting the very emotions vital to making sport meaningful in the first place. Maybe that is why the grandstands are often near empty.

Okay, so the NZRU did what they had to do under the current circumstances. But the circumstances are at least partly of their own making.

And special deals to keep Carter and Richie McCaw allow the strong to get stronger while franchises with players not deemed upper class get no extra help to retain anyone they prize.

Not that the NZRU cares too much about the Super 15 competition, you suspect. The Super 15 serves the machine, as in 2007 when the All Black selectors stripped players from Super rugby.

The All Blacks are the be-all-and-end-all for New Zealand rugby. Their aura is so magical, apparently, that New Zealand's tax and ratepayers have had to open the vaults for the World Cup, along with giving the rugby mob tax breaks that were announced in the Budget with no explanation even offered by the Government.

I'm glad Carter will remain in the All Blacks and this country because he is a joy to watch - a class act with an extraordinary all-round game. He isn't the player he once was and even his goalkicking doesn't seem as reliable. But Carter is still way better than anyone else.

There wasn't much worth remembering from the Napier match, but his agile ankle tap to shut down an attack was one of them.

As for the money: Carter's $6 million deal is a drop in the ocean compared to Auckland's ratepayers being forced into a $40 million underwrite to cover a shortfall on the Eden Park upgrade. And that's just a drop compared to the total World Cup cost to taxpayers and ratepayers, a tournament rugby hopes will restore and galvanise the game.

As for all the supposedly riveting shenanigans that went on to secure Carter: I don't care.

This is what really interests me.

Who said what to whom in order that the World Cup organisers and NZRU were given World Cup-related tax breaks during a belt-tightening time that has included throttling some life out of KiwiSaver.

Something went on behind the scenes involving our taxes, and yet we know nothing about it.

There appears to be no end to the largesse offered to the NZRU, a failing business which lost about $10 million last year and offers no hope for any decent return on our mammoth investment.

For my money - and the NZRU is getting plenty of that - rugby may be struggling but the rugby mafia is alive and well, and has become the nation's chief bludger.

The NZRU snared a World Cup tournament they couldn't afford to host, and have been allowed to hoodwink the country into paying for it.

When you watch Carter running around the fields of New Zealand, forget about patting Steve Tew on the back. It wasn't the NZRU who kept him here. You and your gaping wallet did.