Up and under: Twin transfer dates another NPC blight

By WYNNE GRAY

Once more it seems the NPC has been tarnished.

Each year there seems to be something to take the edge away from the competition which the New Zealand Rugby Football Union trumpets as the most valuable tool in its armoury.

It has been conflicting competitions, changes in the format about promotion and relegation, the draw or the absence of the All Blacks from significant chunks of the series.

Then this season, another distraction - the initial date for provincial transfers so those players can be eligible for different Super 12 franchises.

That deadline is Tuesday.

If the NZRFU receives all the signed transfer documents and money by then, a player changing province must also be named in the Super 12 squad linked to his new union.

So when Byron Kelleher's transfer to Auckland is complete by Tuesday, he must be named in the initial Blues squad when coach Peter Sloane reveals his allowed maximum 24 choices the following week.

There is a second transfer period in the final two weeks of next month when players can swap provinces for next year's NPC but remain eligible for their present Super 12 franchise.

So if Kelleher waited until then, he would still have been available to Auckland for the NPC but could have stayed with the Highlanders for the Super 12.

Clearly, Kelleher and his next employers did not like that scenario, though it would have suited Mark Robinson, the North Harbour halfback who now faces much stronger competition for top-dog status with the Blues.

And all the public discussion left Auckland halfback and Blues No 2 Steve Devine very unsettled in a week when he should have been concentrating exclusively on today's Ranfurly Shield challenge.

The NZRFU explained the twin transfer dates as a way of helping the Super 12 coaches to plan their sides. It had also come under pressure from less powerful provinces, who argued that if players transferred late next month, they had little chance to repair the damage.

It also guaranteed that players who transferred by Tuesday would get Super 12 contracts, unlike previous seasons, when players changed provinces on the pretext that they would be involved in the Super 12 and found that did not happen.

However, while the list on Tuesday night will not be very long, the early date does seem to have caused far too much of a diversion when the NPC still has a fair distance to run.

Another new deal for the next Super 12 is that the All Black, Super 12 and NPC coaches have been asked to rate players in their positions.

In that way, explained NZRFU official Greg Peters, it was more likely the top 140 players in the country could be identified.

And selected? That was the goal. And if, say, three of the top-rated hookers were in the same franchise would one or more be asked to move? Not necessarily.

Well what, then, was the point of rating the players? The coaches were going to choose those they thought were the best for their franchise, it was their team, their reputations.

Anyway, wouldn't it have been better to have allowed the NPC its time in the spotlight before the intrusion of the Super 12, which starts in late February?