David Leggat: Tietjens gets taste of English disease

Anyone with a passing knowledge of how English rugby works would have watched events in New Zealand this week with interest.

There are many differences between rugby here and there. One is how players' contracts are set up.

In England, indeed the United Kingdom, players are contracted to their clubs. When England coach Andy Robinson wants to pick his squad for an overseas trip he is obliged to go cap-in-hand to the clubs asking for players to be released.

In New Zealand players sign with the Rugby Union. Although the cheques may come from the Highlanders or the Hurricanes, Taranaki or Canterbury, union chief executive Chris Moller has the key to the big safe in his pocket.

So when the Rugby Union decided months ago that the World Cup sevens deserved a prominent place in the pecking order, coach Gordon Tietjens was entitled to rub his hands in anticipation.

How high a place sevens rugby deserves in the overall New Zealand landscape is down to individual perspective. New Zealand are defending their title. This year, World Cup year, it is above the Super 12, said the union. End of story.

But events conspired against Tietjens this week. Apparently he had his eye on Blues wing Joe Rokocoko and Crusaders pair Caleb Ralph and Rico Gear.

Then Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach harrumphed that as they'd already lost Andrew Mehrtens to the tsunami match at Twickenham this weekend, they felt losing potentially two wings for a couple of Super 12 rounds was not on.

But wait, hadn't the franchises known the pecking order for some time? If they had, they had conveniently forgotten it. So then word filters out that those three players would rather stay home.

Evidently the Players Union joined in, and a decent argy-bargy was on the cards.

The Rugby Union had the right to give Tietjens his head. But there's no point inviting people to your party if they don't want to go, so he was effectively told "bad luck champ".

It does raise the issue of whether this is the thin end of the wedge, of players picking and choosing.

After all, the sevens players - and Highlanders flanker Josh Blackie, Chiefs midfield back Grant McQuoid and Blues wing Rudi Wulf are going to Hong Kong this month - will only be out of the country for two Super 12 rounds. Put another way, they'll be back for the last seven rounds. For those with All Black aspirations, is that not enough time to impress the national selectors?

The players, through their franchises and union, eyeballed their ultimate paymasters and won.

The England union would have seen nothing new in this. And that's why, administratively speaking, they are in a fine pickle.

The Northern Hemisphere has long admired the fact that the New Zealand union holds the leading players' contracts. This week they might have been thinking their New Zealand counterparts have had a taste of what life is like up north.

* So how good is New Zealand's latest fast-medium bowling hope, Iain O'Brien? Without wishing to put the mockers on him, it can be argued he is the selectors' 13th choice.

Twelve bowlers have been chosen this season - and throw in Michael Mason, who got injured before he would surely have been tapped on the shoulder - before O'Brien got his callup for next week's first test against Australia in Christchurch.

Illness, injury and selectorial preference have all come into play. Read this alphabetical list and weep: Andre Adams, Shane Bond, Ian Butler, Chris Cairns, Tama Canning, James Franklin, Lance Hamilton, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey and Jeff Wilson.

At this rate if you are Auckland's Kerry Walmsley (27 championship wickets at 19.74), Northern Districts' Joey Yovich (17 at 26.7) or Canterbury's Stephen Cunis (14 at 24.7) you'd be entitled to polish your boots, put a change of underwear in a bag and wait by the phone for a call.