If genuine provincial identity is a potential saviour - and there is no guarantee of that - then our survey of the 14 teams does not make pretty reading. The competition has a pragmatic rather than parochial feel. Taranaki are tied at the top of the Premiership table with Tasman. But as the Stratford Screamer bemoaned, the Taranaki ITM Cup team is about as Taranaki as a latte in Ponsonby Rd.
Okay, that is an exaggeration, but from the 31 squad names the union supplied, just eight players were born in Taranaki, which is a province whose remoteness has traditionally encouraged advanced parochialism. Using our criteria of birthplace and/or secondary school signifying a local, 22 of their players - a whopping 71 per cent - are imports.
In contrast, Wellington, going through a horror season, have just 13 per cent imported players, the lowest proportion in the competition, followed closely by Auckland (17 per cent) and North Harbour (26 per cent).
The smaller provinces generally have the highest percentage of imports, Southland second to Taranaki with 69 per cent and Hawkes Bay third with 68 per cent.
But Taranaki rugby's chief executive, the former Chiefs prop and captain Michael Collins, says his union is forced to recruit because it loses a lot of top young players, often for tertiary education reasons.
The way Collins puts it, Taranaki couldn't compete without bringing in reinforcements, as they have this season with Auckland prop Angus Ta'avao, and backs Charlie Ngatai from Wellington and Southlander Marty McKenzie. The ratio of locals to imports also ebbs and flows, depending on needs.
Citing his own example, of a Taranaki boy who became a Waikato player because he wanted to attend university in Hamilton, Collins says there has always been a migrant rugby population.
"I remember playing for Waikato when there didn't seem to be a lot of players from there. And it all depends on what you call local. Blade Thomson and Jamison Gibson-Park moved here when they were 18 ... if you asked around the Tukapa clubrooms I'm sure they would be regarded as locals."
In a perfect world, Collins says the team would have a higher local content. But needs must, and it is now a case of achieving a reasonable balance. And a winning team easily becomes a local team - Taranaki's import content draws little comment around town, according to Collins, and home games are averaging a healthy 6000.
The Herald survey is indicative rather than scientific, of course, and as with all sports statistics, read into them what you like. As Collins points out, "local" is a subjective word. After all, Crusaders' braveheart Richie McCaw is of Otago origins. His successor as captain, Kieran Read, is from Counties Manukau. Yet both are identified with the red and blacks and have not only adopted the Canterbury rugby culture, but played a big part in creating it. Some of the finest Auckland players of the past, think Carlos Spencer, originated from smaller places.
So this is not a new phenomenon of the professional age by any means, although more pronounced.
An obvious trend is that imports play a much bigger role for the smaller unions. For instance, just seven players in the Northland squad of 30 were born and schooled in the province (although a couple of others came from nearby border regions). In years gone by, their team was almost entirely Northland born and bred, which was heartening in one way, yet also led to bleak times.
Canterbury CEO Hamish Riach said they developed the majority of their players through their own systems, rather than transferring them into the province directly at ITM Cup level.
"In fact around 80 per cent of players in the current squad have been through the Canterbury Rugby Academy before being selected at ITM Cup level."
