KEY POINTS:
Don't get too excited about all these All Blacks looking to head overseas to play rugby after the World Cup.
This is not only a sign of the times, when the whole of the rugby world is built around the Cup, but it is also good for the
New Zealand game.
Look at players like Leon MacDonald and Troy Flavell. They both went overseas and came back - and have been success stories. Graham Henry is apparently looking to take three specialist locks and one lock/flanker to the World Cup. At present, I'd say Flavell is in the top three locks in the country, no problem, by virtue of playing well throughout the Super 14 so far and with players like Chris Jack, Ali Williams and Jason Eaton not being seen because they are in the conditioning or 'protected' 22.
The trend is for players to go younger and to get top dollar by doing so - but many of them can still have World Cup aspirations. Like Jack - he's 28 now so will be 32 for the next World Cup. That's not beyond the realms of possibility whereas, in earlier times, they might have gone at the end of their careers as a bit of a swansong.
Some fans will beef that the World Cup shouldn't rule matters to this extent but the way rugby is structured at the moment means that many All Blacks, once they have played at a World Cup, don't have that much to look forward to.
There are no big tours any more so they might as well get their OE and get some good coin for doing so - and they still have the ability to return. That, in turn, gives the next generation of All Blacks and would-be All Blacks a chance to step up.
We have the depth in our game to do that successfully while you can't say the same of the Northern Hemisphere.
You don't see the NZRU rushing off to pay Jonny Wilkinson to play in the Super 14, do you?
And last season, something like 16 or 17 of the 28 props playing in France's national competition were foreigners. That might strengthen their competition but it sure isn't strengthening the depth of the base of their national game.
Meanwhile, with Henry's rotation and this latest effort of taking the 22 out of the Super 14, I think we are again strengthening our base. Players like Jerome Kaino, who is playing very well, are pushing hard for a loose forward spot and Rodney So'oialo will be feeling like he will have to perform when he gets back. This is all good for competitiveness and for depth.
There are others - and I'd say the only position which hasn't really thrown up a competitor or two for the All Blacks incumbents is at halfback. I thought both Byron Kelleher and Piri Weepu were vulnerable after last year but no halfback in the Super 14 has really come on and challenged them so far.
In fact, I can see only one negative in all this. There is the question of what's in their heart.
Chris Jack announced he was leaving even before the World Cup has started. That inevitably gives rise to a question of whether his heart is in this one.
We talked about Lote Tuqiri last week and whether he is a team man at all after his protracted contract negotiations and all.
If he decides on deadline tomorrow that he is going to league, would he be worth including in a 2007 World Cup side?
I doubt it - but it remains to be seen whether this too is a new facet of modern rugby.
