Rugby: Under-achievers desperate to break run

Alando Soakai. Photo / Getty Images

For the Reds, it was the arrival of new coach Ewen McKenzie. For the Hurricanes, it was the investment and subsequent development of a world-class academy in Wellington. For the Bulls, it was a combination of player recruitment, youth development and hard work.

All three have been through bleak periods of varying lengths; all three have found a way to break the rut, albeit perhaps only temporarily in the case of the Reds.

The Highlanders are desperate to break a run of under-achievement that started in 2003 but so far can't turn themselves around.

This season is not shaping promisingly and, unless there is an obvious improvement in performance, questions about the Highlanders' future are only going to intensify.

The NZRU pumped $2m into the struggling franchise last year and shuffled the board with a view to improving things both on and off the field.

The Highlanders had been bleeding cash for several years and were effectively insolvent, mainly as a result of their poor performances leading to a dramatic drop in attendances.

The average crowd at Carisbrook has been about 7000 for the last two seasons and, as gate revenue and sponsorship are the only ways franchises can generate more revenue, mediocrity on the field has hurt the Highlanders.

Hopes were high that 2010 was going to herald a new era. A special dispensation was granted that allowed the Highlanders to treat previous draft players as protected players.

For the first time in years, they were well equipped in terms of personnel. They have a competent tight five, plus the class of Adam Thomson, Jimmy Cowan and Alando Soakai, who regularly tops the important individual statistics.

There is time still, but the Highlanders are in danger of stumbling to another poor season where they end it full of hard luck stories about games they could have won.

Without victories, the crowds won't come back and the NZRU is going to have to ask just how committed they are to the Highlanders. Are they prepared to pour in more capital?

Currently there is a major difference in the playing budgets of the five New Zealand franchises. The total amount spent on player salaries last year at the Highlanders was between $1million and $1.2million less than than the other franchises.

"This is one of the issues that could be addressed," says Highlanders chairman Ross Laidlaw. "I am not asking that the Highlanders should receive more than everyone else, just the same."

If the Highlanders were afforded the same budget, many of the gaps in their squad could be plugged.

The NZRU is clutching to the hope that the changed format next year where there will be more local derbies could spike crowds upwards in Dunedin.

There is also some evidence to suggest the shift to the new stadium - probably in 2012 - could lift attendances.