The plight of premier club rugby in Dunedin has been brought into sharp focus following Zingari-Richmond's 137-0 defeat by University A and Pirates' struggles to get a team on the park. But is the competition really in poor health? Sports reporter Adrian Seconi talks to three rugby figures around the Dunedin rugby community: long-serving club rugby writer Alistair McMurran, Southern life member and Metropolitan Rugby Council vice-chairman Mike Reggett and ORFU board member and chairman of New Zealand Schools Rugby Council Garry Chronican.
AM "There has always been a team at the bottom which would get beaten by a large margin ... but perhaps not by as much as Zingari. What I think is happening is the recruitment by the top teams is much better, so they have a lot of reserve players and depth right through. When a team like Zingari gets a few injuries, particularly in pivotal positions, they haven't got the backup.''
MR "I think the problem now is the contact area. The guys aren't conditioned for it and I think this is where we are getting a lot of shoulder injuries and a lot of breaks, which hasn't happened in the past.''
GC "The issue has always been the same, I suppose. We have a large pool of talented players but they have to be divided around so many clubs. If a club loses a few players to another province or to overseas, then it puts the pressure on.''
AM "I'd be against reducing the number of teams. I don't see any advantage in going down to eight teams. Any club which did not have a premier team would be wiped out. Rather than force clubs or the competition down to eight, it is better to let clubs decide if they want to amalgamate.''
MR "My biggest frustration with the competition is with the clubs. We've been [having meetings] since October last year and we go around the meeting table and ask how are things are at your club and no-one says ‘we're in trouble'. I think the clubs actually need to sit down and look at their club and be honest about it and ask ‘where are we heading?'''
GC "If you look at the quality of rugby being played at the top six to eight teams it is outstanding and as strong as ever, and maybe stronger. I'm not saying there is not an issue. But the problems have always been there; it is just that they are being shown more acutely at the moment. We probably do need to be getting together as a rugby community and look at addressing the immediate problem without knee-jerk reaction.''
AM "It is across all sports and not confined to rugby. Not everyone wants to play in the front row but there is enough talented players who play in the front row.''
MR "The day seven-day trading came in was the end of sport as we know it. But that [a lack of front-rowers] is about recruitment. It is how you recruit and a lot of that has to do with how you are going in the competition, so I don't agree with that.''
GC "I don't think the sport itself is struggling. There are some structural issues. But the values are still in the game and the reason why people play the game are still as strong as ever. Well-structured tournaments that meet the needs of the players are important but not everyone wants to participate in two or three hard trainings a week as well as a Saturday game. So we need to look at other forms of the game like sevens and like touch to accommodate all players.''
Do the clubs need to take a more active role in secondary school rugby?
AM "One of the big problems is players who play for clubs then go to secondary school and play for their school team and they lose that connection. That has been happening for a long time, so there definitely needs to be a connection.''
GC "There is no doubt that club-school liaison is vital. But some of the suggestions I've heard I believe are inaccurate - that school rugby is not as strong as it was and that clubs should take over the administration of schools rugby. I would argue the school competition is probably as strong or stronger than it has ever been during the last 30 years and in fact we have one school who is playing at a level higher than has ever been played before.''
