A key All Black's move overseas is set to cause a recruitment war. Photo / Photosport
A key All Black's move overseas is set to cause a recruitment war. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
The All Blacks, in all their various guises, will be a permanent fixture in Japan between 2024 and 2027 as part of a strategic plan that appears to be preparing the Brave Blossoms for entry into the Rugby Championship.
The Pacific region needs more credible, capable international rugby nations,and so by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), New Zealand Rugby has committed itself to some of the heavy lifting required to improve high-performance standards in Japan.
It’s a long-term play by NZR, one which is seemingly being pursued for the greater good of the region’s rugby health.
But playing regular international fixtures in Japan will come with commercial perks for the All Blacks.
No doubt there will be significant cash fees just for turning up, but the larger prize is being able to showcase the All Blacks in the world’s third-largest economy.
Identifying and then monetising millions of offshore All Blacks fans is the central plank of Silver Lake’s investment thesis and while NZR has been flirting with Japan for the past decade, the arrival of the US firm as an equity partner seems to have been the catalyst to formalise the relationship.
While there is an element of this being an arrangement designed to advance the Brave Blossoms’ high-performance standing, the fact all the games are going to be played in Japan suggests this deal is more about NZR advancing its commercial ambition.
If it was primarily about improving Japan’s rugby ability, part of the agreement would have been to pack them off to Rotorua to play the Māori All Blacks and then to Eden Park to play the All Blacks a week later.
To be a credible, sustainable fixture in Southern Hemisphere rugby, teams have to cope with long-haul travel, short turnarounds between big games and hostile crowds.
But the most significant reason to be sure this agreement is not primarily about high-performance development is the choice of partner.
NZR has singled out Japan, which although in possession of a credible high-performance record, don’t have the Pacific region’s most compelling case to be promoted into the Rugby Championship.
Fiji are the hottest, emerging high-performance property in the region and if anyone has earned a “leg-up” opportunity, based purely on rugby potential, it is them.
Japan play the All Blacks in Tokyo in 2022. Photo / Tsutomu Kishimoto, www.photosport.nz
There are Fijian superstars across the globe, world-class players lighting up professional leagues in France, England, Japan and New Zealand and Australia.
The talent is undeniable, and it has enabled the Flying Fijians to twice make the quarter-finals of the World Cup, as well as enjoy a relatively recent win against France in Paris.
But the big-ticket item that says Fiji should be the highest priority for NZR to help develop is the incredible promise shown by the Drua.
They have already proven themselves to be the best “new entrant” team Super Rugby has known – having beaten the Hurricanes and Crusaders this year.
NZR may believe they have already given Fiji a “leg-up” by granting and underwriting the Drua’s Super Rugby licence, but without the national team being part of the Rugby Championship or having any meaningful fixtures, it’s a “leg-up” to nowhere.
The Drua, like Moana Pasifika, were conceived as a pathway concept – a means to expose local talent to professional rugby, to better equip Fiji to deal with the demands of international rugby.
Built into this vision was a secondary plan to provide Fiji - and Samoa, Tonga and other emerging nations - greater access to regular, meaningful fixtures.
It would seem now, however, that Japan now sit as a blockage in Fiji’s path to those better fixtures and it’s not for the first time either.
In late 2012, the Fijian Rugby Union asked NZR if it would send the All Blacks to Suva in 2013 to celebrate the former’s centenary.
NZR declined, citing the All Blacks’ already full test schedule. Three months later, NZR announced that the All Blacks would play Japan in November of that year, a decision that was beyond disrespectful to Fiji.
Here we are now, 10 years on, and the All Blacks have played Japan three times in Tokyo, but not once have they played in Fiji.
Just as critically, nor have Australia, and the failure to do so leaves a sense of disconnection, unworthiness and disillusionment among the Fijian rugby fraternity.
All these trips to Japan and none to Fiji hammer home the inequity of professional rugby which is ruled by commercial desires and not high-performance ideals.
Fiji have enormous rugby potential but limited economic means so they are shut out by rugby’s elite who don’t so much want new nations sitting at the top table, but new, rich nations.
What, in a roundabout way, prioritising Japan as a development project does is confirm that New Zealand, like Australia and every other major rugby nation, are quite happy keeping Fiji and the other Pacific Islands in a state of international limbo.
Preserving the power imbalance means that Fijian-born players such as Sevu Reece, Marika Koroibete and Samu Kerevi are drawn towards the All Blacks and Wallabies.
If Fiji’s international future remains undetermined, then it leaves someone such as Emoni Narawa, the sensational young Chiefs wing, almost certain to say yes to the All Blacks if, and most likely when they come calling later this year.
This whole business of how New Zealand and other heavyweight nations interact with the Pacific Islands remains a touchy subject: they react passionately to accusations they are exploiting Fiji, Samoa and Tonga by countering with arguments that they are offering incredible opportunities.
Which is true, playing for the All Blacks and Wallabies does create incredible opportunities for those able to do so, but it would be wrong to see New Zealand and Australia as saviours of Pacific Island talent.
There is nowhere for Pacific talent to go other than into the systems of the rich.
New Zealand’s freshly agreed deal with Japan would induce greater celebration if it didn’t feel like it was confining Fiji to remain in the netherworld they have occupied for too long.
