Wynne Gray: Time to drop All Blacks name from other national teams

The national sevens side were badly beaten in Dubai. Picture / Getty

The All Blacks were beaten in Chicago last month by Ireland - well beaten, too, as the Irish ended 111 years of torment.

Then South Africa delivered far greater humiliation last weekend when they demolished the All Blacks 40-0 in Dubai. Global headlines broadcast that jolt as the New Zealand Rugby website dialled it back a shade with their "Setback for All Black sevens in Dubai" headline.

All this after the All Blacks' shock loss to Japan at the Rio Olympics and defeats to Great Britain and Fiji as they ended up in fifth place.

Major sponsor AIG will absorb those tremors because they are getting a wider global reach for their brand while the showcase side, the (actual) All Blacks, remain at rugby's summit. Sponsors will revel in the association as sides carrying the signature play at multiple levels in a range of competitions.

Spread the brand, dilute the long-term mana, would be my assessment.

NZR need to find and nurture business partnerships with companies such as AIG to give rugby the best chance of flourishing.

The All Blacks have been doing well for more than a century and sponsors see a range of opportunities if they piggyback that success.

It's strong business practice to get in cahoots with sponsors and walk with them towards a stronger future but not at the expense of all the history, tradition and folklore compiled by every All Black who has worn the jersey down the years.

We've had this multiple team-naming fiasco foisted on us for the past four years and it needs to be chopped. We had a referendum about the flag - surely we could have one about something far more important like the All Blacks.

The All Blacks are one squad, one team, full-stop. They should be the only side wearing the black jersey. The rest can wear the two-tone fair isle billboard the All Blacks used against France. That will give AIG and adidas their sponsorship space on jerseys for the sevens, Maori and other teams which will not be confused with the All Black brand.

If the All Blacks need to use an alternate strip, as they did in Paris, they should change to a white strip, as they have in the past.

The All Blacks are a team which has won the last two World Cups. They are the best rugby players in the country, not a racially selected squad who lost to Munster on a three game tour last month or a side who were decimated in Dubai.

We can help that distinction by calling those teams New Zealand Maori and New Zealand Sevens and fitting them out in the fair isle jersey.

It's a long-held lament that the rest of the world does not distinguish between New Zealand teams, and who can blame them when NZR blurs the lines with their names and uniforms - a move NZR claimed they made to honour the legacy of All Blacks success.

NZR steadfastly claims the decision to widen the use of the All Blacks moniker pre-dated AIG signing on as major sponsor. Perhaps so. But when the deal was signed, NZR said the company respected the All Black traditions and the future they envisioned. Between the two organisations, the escalation in team names and signage suggests that just ain't so as results are beginning to show.