Sir Graham Henry has backed the idea of allowing All Blacks stars to ply their trade abroad and still be eligible for Test selection, given the financial burden New Zealand Rugby currently faces.<\/p>\n
The 2011 Rugby World Cup winner was discussing the future of the sport in the country following the struggles of the national team over the past few years.<\/p>\n
While Scott Robertson became the first person to be sacked as All Blacks<\/a> boss, it was hardly rosy under Ian Foster or the latter stages of Sir Steve Hansen\u2019s tenure with other countries catching up and, in South Africa\u2019s case, overtaking them.<\/p>\n New Zealand find themselves in a strange position given the dominance they enjoyed for the majority of the previous 100 years, with pressure being heaped on the governing body.<\/p>\n NZ Rugby, therefore, need to adapt, and Henry<\/a> believes that relaxing their overseas policy would be a start.<\/p>\n Jordie Barrett example<\/p>\n \u201cMy solution would be that we allow All Blacks to play overseas. There will be some criteria there, but I think the criteria needs to be reasonably flexible, maybe 20 Tests,\u201d he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat that does is it develops your rugby players. Look at Jordie Barrett. Jordie Barrett had a year at Leinster, and that year helped him immensely, not only as a rugby player but as a person, I would say. His influence on the Hurricanes right now is considerable, I would imagine.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re bringing back ideas from overseas. What it does for players is it not only develops them as rugby players but develops them as people \u2013 they\u2019re more worldly, they\u2019re more confident. Look at South Africa<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n World Rugby and NZ Rugby \u2018responsible\u2019 for Moana Pasifika\u2019s \u2018devastating\u2019 demise: \u2018Absolute setback for the game\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The overseas policy has become a huge debating point with NZR reluctant to bow to pressure, but those calls are only growing louder.<\/p>\n It has worked successfully for the Springboks and, although Devlin argued that it might not suit New Zealand, Henry believes that it is worth learning from South Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cGet real, they are the best team in the world by a considerable margin, and most of their international players play overseas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt solves the financial problem to some degree, so somebody else, whether it be the French, the Japanese or English, are paying for these players, they\u2019re developing as rugby players, they\u2019re developing as people, they\u2019re going to come back to the All Blacks and they\u2019re going to be much more equipped to be a world-class player.\u201d<\/p>\n Expanding Super Rugby<\/p>\n Henry also reckons that they are losing too many talented players because they only have five Super Rugby teams and he has proposed expanding that competition.<\/p>\n \u201cWith our own competition, you look at it and say: \u2018Okay, we\u2019re not developing enough young kids\u2019. We\u2019ve got five teams,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cLook at the NRL, they\u2019ve probably got 700 contracts to our 200 contracts, lots of our best rugby talent is going to rugby league because they get the opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cSpread that competition to maybe 10 New Zealand sides. The Fijian Drua, Samoa and Tonga \u2013 as opposed to Moana Pasifika.<\/p>\n \u201cThen we\u2019re developing our own. The competition is maybe a wee bit lesser standard but more competitive, the Australians will be able to compete\u2026 and then you\u2019ve got something that\u2019s going to be able to develop our players.\u201d<\/p>\n