Small sides must fight to keep best players

By CHRIS RATTUE

Bay of Plenty coach Gordon Tietjens has watched with interest over the past couple of days as All Blacks have contemplated moving from one NPC province to the next.

But his interest has been that of a bystander, because although Tietjens' side may be part of the first division, the manoeuvrings of provinces such as Auckland are a world away from the dealings of the Bay.

For a start, there is little chance that a test player such as Kees Meeuws or Byron Kelleher would even consider a province such as Bay of Plenty.

And while the big unions engage in their undercover moves to bolster Super 12 and NPC sides, teams like Bay of Plenty are more likely to be involved in hanging on for dear life to the decent players they do have.

One problem, of course, is that teams near the foot of the table cannot even guarantee prospective players they will be in the first division next season.

A case in point: Bay of Plenty lost leading players such as Tevita Taumoepeau, Justin Wilson and Craig de Goldi after their promotion-winning run last year. Most had signed for first division provinces before the NPC had begun.

And forget player transfers for now. Bay of Plenty and Southland will not be looking beyond this Sunday, when Tietjens and Leicester Rutledge's sides clash in Invercargill.

For the victor may be the spoils of continued first division status. For the loser, an increased chance that they will drop to the second division from which the only way to emerge will be to win a promotion-relegation game.

In other words, Sunday's match and a couple of others over the next month will play a huge part in determining the whole future for a couple of rugby provinces.

It has been a particularly tough row to hoe for Bay of Plenty. While Northland and Southland were given great lungs full of breathing space after their elevation to the first division, the sometimes peculiar workings of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and their administration of the NPC mean Bay of Plenty faced a one-off automatic relegation system in their first year after promotion.

As Southland have shown, it can take many years to prove that you are still not good enough to foot it in the top league.

And in Northland's case, they lost every first division match the year after they crushed everyone in the second division.

"We knew the rules from the beginning, when we applied for promotion, but it would have been nice if we could have had a year's grace. As a union we're disappointed we weren't given that," Tietjens says.

"It doesn't bear thinking about, being relegated, although it's not impossible for a second division team to win a promotion-relegation match.

"But it would be very difficult. The first division side would be able to build itself to peak for that game, and the second division team has to play away. It would be very tough."

Bay of Plenty started this season with a hiss and a roar, beating Wellington and almost knocking over Auckland, a match in which touch judges incorrectly ruled a penalty from the Bay's Glen Jackson had not gone over.

But reality has bitten since, with the Bay losing their next four games by an average of 40 points.

So what are the hurdles for a smallish union, recently promoted?

Since Jackson returned to work in a bank, all of the Bay team have employment outside rugby. It means, for instance, that a handful of players in Rotorua get together at 6 am one day each week to fit in some "team" gym work. Team and individual training are crammed around regular work hours.

Tietjens says that one of the major problems his side has faced is the extra power of their opponents - mostly fulltime professionals. That difference has taken its toll as the season wears on.

Tietjens himself works as the general manager for Bay Engineering in Tauranga. He does not have the luxury of many hours to analyse videos, and analysis of teams and opponents, plus one-on-one sessions with players, are at the core of the new wave of coaching techniques.

So, as happened last Saturday when the Bay faced Waikato without six leading players who were injured or ill, the hurdles to victory are virtually insurmountable.

"I envy other teams when I see All Blacks sitting on their bench. I had to pull three players out of our development side on the day of the Waikato game," Tietjens says.

Everyone knows it is an uneven playing field out there, but maybe that field should be at a tilt rather looking like a cliff face.

By Sunday afternoon, Southland or Bay of Plenty will be feeling better about their future. But even then, that future is probably more a battle for survival than one of prosperity.