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04 August 2008
The not-so-long wait for the eagerly
anticipated 2008/9 season is nearly over with most Top14
sides now back in full training ahead of the official league
kick-off on August 26th.
The ongoing Sonny ‘Bill’ Williams saga
may be dominating the headlines at present but there’s no
hiding from the fact that this year has seen another
explosion of foreign talent heading to these shores, mostly
from the talent-rich but cash-poor Southern hemisphere.
The long-term impact of yet another
wave of “etrangiers” hitting the Top14 is very much up for
discussion – both in terms of its affect on French club
rugby and also, particularly, on Australian rugby league (NRL)
and the All Blacks’ future selection policy – but right now
is a time for salivation rather than inquisition.
Of all the big names heading this way
the one that has captured most headlines, at least until
Williams did his unexpected runner, was Perpignan’s signing
of Kiwi poster-boy Dan Carter, the All Blacks fly-half.
Not only is ‘DC’ currently the hottest
ticket in union, he is also the man who has finally broken
the All Blacks’ controversial policy of only picking players
based at home in New Zealand.
By breaking their selection rules – or
bending them, depending on your persuasion – the New Zealand
Rugby Board has made a frank, and some would say overdue,
admission that it must now adapt to a changing rugby world.
By allowing Carter a “sabbatical” – you
know, time off from your normal job so you can er… oh that’s
it, earns loads of cash playing club rugby in France – the
NZRB set a precedent that just might open the flood gates to
other high-profile All Blacks, such as current captain
Richie McCaw.
The draw of pulling on
the black shirt and scaring opponents silly with the Haka
for the NZ-based 2011 World Cup is apparently all that is
keeping a full-scale exodus in check, but “Carter’s
compromise” – by the board, not the player – has set tongues
and fingers wagging from the Coromandel to the Cote D’Azur.
But while the French are licking their lips the Kiwis appear
to be licking their wounds, in readiness for the soon-to-be
applied salt that will surely follow.
Meanwhile, here in France, Carter is
just one of a galaxy of star names heading this way for a
season that promises to pick up from last year’s
exhilarating Bouclier de Brennus showdown which left Stade
Toulousain clasping a record 17th Championship,
courtesy of their 26-20 victory, while ASM Clermont Auvergne
scratched their collective and battered head at the
injustice of yet another final failure – their ninth in
total.
Will it be 10th time lucky
for the Michelin backed Clermont or has successive
runners-up medals left them permanently deflated?
Judging by their lack of activity in an
otherwise frenetic transfer window they appear to have
confidence in their current squad but others have been more
cash-happy in their acquisition of star names with the likes
of Jerry Collins, Mark Gesnier, Justin Marshall and the
returning Frederic Michalak promising an intriguing and
skill-saturated season.
As those fine young Southport rockers
Gomez once put in: Bring it on.
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