NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Rugby

Chris Rattue: Money is at the root of tedious contest

Chris Rattue
By Chris Rattue
Sports Writer·NZ Herald·
4 Nov, 2012 04:30 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Just because Richie McCaw has obvious Scottish heritage, do we really need to keep playing them? Photo / Hannah John

Just because Richie McCaw has obvious Scottish heritage, do we really need to keep playing them? Photo / Hannah John

Chris Rattue
Opinion by Chris Rattue
Chris Rattue is a Sports Writer for New Zealand's Herald.
Learn more
Scotland are so bad that even the rugby spin machine may have trouble whirring into action

There was nothing much to rave about on the sporting front over the weekend, and don't hold your breath for anything better from Scotland next week.

The All Blacks versus Scotland is haggis dressed up as ham.

The rugby community will gather forces and pretend there is something historically beautiful about the match-up, although Scotland are so bad that even the rugby spin machine might have trouble whirring into action.

Indeed, the All Blacks departed for yet another (yawn) European crusade with the sort of fanfare reserved for the Olympic taekwondo team, which shows that even the diehards have had enough of these annual returns.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Monday's match is another insult to Pacific Island rugby delivered by that bastion of colonialism - the International Rugby Board.

The IRB makes noises about helping tier-two nations, but their treatment still smacks of tokenism.

The New Zealand Rugby Union happily plays along, denying the PI countries a chance to develop as genuine members of the international rugby community, thus ensuring most of the top young prospects hang about for All Black jerseys. Sanzar, meanwhile, has welcomed old rugby mates Argentina into the fold.

Samoa, Tonga and Fiji have way more potential than Scotland or Argentina.

Yet they are left to stew on the sidelines as the old boys network keeps the prime-time and the money to themselves, protecting their rankings and image along the way.

Scotland's record against the All Blacks is a joke, which isn't their fault, because it is a small, soccer-leaning country of often foul winter weather.

Discover more

Sport|rugby

Rugby: Commitment to minnows put to the test

03 Nov 04:30 PM
Sport|rugby

Rugby: Nippy nines everywhere

03 Nov 04:30 PM
Rugby

$80m for rugby in AIG deal

03 Nov 04:30 PM
All Blacks

Richie's short, sharp message

04 Nov 03:10 AM

But it is still a joke. In the last 20 years, they have played the All Blacks 12 times and lost by an average score of 14-44, which is even worse when you consider seven of those games were at home and one on neutral turf.

The most recent five matches have all been in Edinburgh, the All Blacks triumphing by an average of 31-5.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Scotland have scored just one try in that run, an irrelevant last-gasp score in 2005 against a second string All Black team that included such notables as Sione Lauaki, Angus Macdonald, James Ryan and Saimone Taumoepeau in the pack. (Taumoepeau, while we are at it, is a classic example of a player who should still be enjoying a long career with Tonga, but was taken out of test circulation thanks to the All Blacks' cynical trial-and-error approach to sorting out their front row at the time.)

Perhaps the most damning statistic involving Scotland is that the All Blacks have played them a whopping 12 times in the past two decades, which tells you who runs world rugby.

It's hard to remember the last time Scotland did anything interesting on a rugby field. They play a turgid, ineffective game that belongs in a cave because their players have few skills.

If there were no alternatives, then fine. Maybe. But there are, and exciting ones that would honour and nurture the amazing contribution that the Pacific Islands make to the game. And yet the All Blacks not only keep the contests against PI countries to a bare minimum, but never play in those lands.

I have met a number of PI rugby characters over the year who are frustrated at the lack of change and their problems finding an effective voice.

Money is at the root of this evil of course, but even financial imperatives are no excuse for the extent of the continuing insult delivered to our rugby neighbours.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Back to Scotland. On the law of averages, one of these European teams may pinch a win one day, but it won't be Scotland. Efforts to drum up enthusiasm for this test involve coverage of the All Blacks' shock-horror move to blood up-and-comers. Honestly troops, save your ink because where Scotland are concerned nobody should care.

Who can blame the All Blacks for using the Scottish match as a development tool? They would be mad not to.

And the only hope of making this game remotely interesting is to select the weakest team possible.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rugby

Premium
Super Rugby

Ranking every Super Rugby final from worst to best

20 Jun 02:00 AM
Premium
All Blacks

Exclusive: Claims NZR tried to discourage Ardie Savea joining Moana Pasifika

20 Jun 12:01 AM
New Zealand

More oval balls for Bay Oval? Sold-out Super Rugby game sparks calls for repeat

19 Jun 09:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rugby

Premium
Ranking every Super Rugby final from worst to best

Ranking every Super Rugby final from worst to best

20 Jun 02:00 AM

Where will Saturday's final eventually rank amongst the annals?

Premium
Exclusive: Claims NZR tried to discourage Ardie Savea joining Moana Pasifika

Exclusive: Claims NZR tried to discourage Ardie Savea joining Moana Pasifika

20 Jun 12:01 AM
More oval balls for Bay Oval? Sold-out Super Rugby game sparks calls for repeat

More oval balls for Bay Oval? Sold-out Super Rugby game sparks calls for repeat

19 Jun 09:00 PM
Premium
Elliott Smith: McMillan's record adds pressure to Chiefs' big game

Elliott Smith: McMillan's record adds pressure to Chiefs' big game

19 Jun 06:01 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP