Analysis: Rugby's NPC — an irrelevance or cherished institution?

1News

3 days ago

1News rugby experts Scotty Stevenson and Patrick McKendry on an evocative domestic competition that once reigned supreme and can still surprise.
PM: Scotty, the NPC starts tonight. Once a competition that was the envy of the rugby world, it has been diminished by professionalism but still plays an important part in the game's ecosystem here.
There are various storylines already ahead of the first game – Auckland v Waikato at Eden Park – but what are you looking forward most to seeing this season?
SS: You are right – it has been diminished, but it remains undefeated. The most galling aspect of the NPC's descent into the shadows of its former self is that it feels more by design than accident. The lack of marketing hype from the national body would indicate it has essentially thrown in the towel when it comes to generating any interest, preferring instead to let the unions sink or swim.
There is an upside to that independence from the national body, which is the NPC can retain its role as a broad church of rugby philosophies and styles. This is what the world once envied – a competition that showcased all that was innovative about the way this country thought about, and played, rugby. In contrast, franchise rugby clubs and their attendant academy systems feel a lot more restrictive and homogenised.
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So yeah, I am looking forward to a bit of fearless footy with some questionable defence and a side of reckless option-taking. I'm also looking forward to Northland taking the Shield off Taranaki on the opening weekend.
Which brings me to this question: Do you feel as though the NPC in the age of semi-professional contracting does enough to reflect the game at a local level?
PM: Yes, and no.
As a supporter of club rugby on Auckland's North Shore, it pleased me to see a full dozen players from Harbour's champion club North Shore RFC, who this month won their third consecutive title, selected to represent their province.
It strikes me as significant that Harbour's premier club grand final hasn't been held at North Harbour Stadium for two years now, due to the expense involved in hiring the place.
Moana Pasifika's Patrick Pellegrini, pictured scoring against the Crusders, will start for Harbour this weekend. (Source: Photosport)
Instead, North Shore, as highest placed qualifier, has hosted the last two at its club in Devonport and, in my prejudiced opinion, the grass-roots spectacle has been all the better for it.
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Will that buzz transfer to North Harbour Stadium for this year's NPC? Possibly, and the atmosphere generated at the place throughout Moana Pasifika's recent breakout season may help encourage a few more to come along. It's also small enough to get away with smallish crowds looking okay on the broadcast.
That does not apply to Eden Park, however, and tonight's opening match there will probably reflect that. That's a concern for me. In summary, I think provinces should cater for their audience.
I hope that makes sense. What's your take?
SS: Ah yes, the Eden Park conundrum. I love the old girl, but it will be outback barren tonight. I just don't know what the solution is. Auckland did take a game to a secondary school field last season, which was actually a great occasion, but it's not a long-term solution. The cold reality is Auckland simply doesn't have an appropriately-sized venue for NPC rugby, and Auckland Rugby, as a beneficiary of the Eden Park Trust, has never had to think too hard about making one.
Costs on venue hire and staffing would be a huge pressure on unions struggling to get fans through the turnstiles. I still think there are incredible fanbases around the country – Taranaki, Tasman, Southland, Northland, Hawkes Bay all spring to mind. They have certain things in common: they reflect the region as much as possible, they have appropriately sized venues with history and character, and they don't see much by way of Super Rugby or All Blacks Tests. For them, the NPC remains the main event in the professional rugby landscape.
Former All Black Lima Sopoaga trains with Manu Samoa before the World Cup in France in 2023. (Source: Photosport)
There is a disconnect between the regional cities and the major centres when it comes to provincial rugby and that's problematic for the image of the competition. You want your biggest population centres to be engaged but they have already had their fill by the time the NPC rolls around.
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It's a problem compounded by the lack of media coverage. As you well know, sports reporting roles in major media organisations have been slashed and burned in recent years, and those writers and broadcasters were the mythmakers and the legend creators. Sorry, but no social media post can hold a candle to the vividity of that kind of storytelling.
And don't you think we should get back to that? To celebrating the personalities rather than just the performances?
PM: Yes, and they're out there, including former All Blacks 10s Lima Sopoaga and Aaron Cruden who will be turning out for Waikato tonight at the ages of 34 and 36 respectively.
Sopoaga has always been a bit of a free spirit and Cruden has transformed into a pretty good TV rugby analyst after being a pretty decent player at his peak.
I know you spoke to Lima this morning.
Did you got a sense of his excitement at returning to this level after time away? Who else are you looking forward to seeing on the pitch? I must say, too, that I'm keen to see Tasman outside back Kyren Taumoefolau have a crack this weekend against Bay of Plenty.
SS: I did speak to Lima today and yes, the guy's fizzed up like he's 18 all over again. I think he and Cruden have called themselves the Koro Club. Brilliant. You cannot underestimate the value guys like this bring to teams.
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Aaron Cruden in action for Waikato in 2024. (Source: Photosport)
As Lima pointed out to me, he's at one end of his professional career while there are many others in that squad who have it all in front of them. Imagine having that resource to bounce off - players to challenge you, mentor you, guide you, and push you. Xavier Roe probably can't believe his luck being a young halfback with lofty aspirations training and playing with two first fives who have done it all.
There is enormous value in the veteran and we are far too quick to chase the next shiny thing in rugby here.
I was privileged to be in Whanganui on the weekend when the Classics (formerly known as the Classic All Blacks) played the Butcher Boys. I loved the home side's front rowers (Finlay Ocheduszko-Brown, Matt Picard, and Logan Mitchell) were all on debut, and here they were packing down their first scrum against Chris King, Jason Rutledge and Jamie Mackintosh! I reckon that's a memory for life.
So when I look at the teams I absolutely get excited to see the likes of Payton Spencer (son of Carlos) playing for Auckland but, equally, I have profound respect for the influence of Angus Ta'avao-Matau on that squad. It's similar with big Julian Savea at Wellington, or Johnny McNichol at Canterbury, or Matty Moulds with the Taniwha.
Am I just being nostalgic? Probably, but I've always had a soft spot for those players who just keep turning up, and who constantly give back.
Speaking of nostalgia, are there specific games or players from your many years of following the provincial game that still own a deposit box in your memory bank?
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PM: Yes, and they're mostly Ranfurly Shield games as a kid growing up in Christchurch. Canterbury's win against Wellington at Athletic Park in 1981 when Wayne Smith just kept going to the tryline (dad took us to the airport to welcome them home the next day), Canterbury's loss to Auckland at Lancaster Park in 1985 which featured some John Kirwan skulduggery over the deadball line, and Canterbury's 1994 win over Waikato in Hamilton.
Canterbury's Daryl Gibson in action against Southland in his team's successful shield defence in 1995. (Source: Photosport)
Southland's brave but failed attempt to win the Shield at Lancaster Park in 1995 (when I was living and working in Invercargill and had travelled north in hope for the Stags), too. Ah, the memories.
Players? Canterbury No.8 Dale Atkins, a man desperately unlucky not to be an All Black, was a favourite.
You?
SS: I adore the shield and have been had the honour of commentating many shield games. Still waiting for my Taniwha to get it back, though!
My first memories of provincial rugby are heading to Okara Park with my dad and grandad. Ziggy Seymour and Warren 'the boot' Johnstone and the brothers Woodman and Dunn, and many others through the years who became heroes and later mates. I loved those afternoons sitting on the concrete terraces on winter afternoons in the winterless north.
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I was at Eden Park as a school kid in 1993 when drunken busloads (including my brother) rolled up from the Tron and John Mitchell's Mooloos took the shield off Auckland.
Southland celebrate their Ranfurly Shield win over Canterbury in Christchurch in 2011. (Source: Photosport)
I was at AMI Stadium in 2009 when the Stags took the shield off Canterbury and I was at Rugby Park in 2010 when they defended it against Otago in front of 17,500 fans. Every shield game is special. I hope the Log is treasured and worshipped for many years to come.
It's hard to think of one game above all others, but if I could pick the most exciting one I ever called, I think it would be 'the battle of the bays' in 2012 when Ihaia West conjured a solo try from nowhere to give Hawkes Bay at 42-41 win over the Steamers. It was rugby on a different planet that day. As entertaining a game as you'd ever hope to see.
So, let's park the nostalgia for a sec and come back to the present. Who have you got this year as winner, and (for extra credits) where is the shield at the end of the season?
I'm picking Tasman to pip defending champs Wellington in the final. Why? I'll present to you the Mako backline for their opener against BOP: Finlay Christie, Will Havili, Macca Springer, David Havili, Levi Aumua, Timoci Tavatavanawai and the aforementioned Taumoefolau.
The Shield? Tasman, too.
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You?
That is a heck of a lineup, alright. Tasman deserve their favourites tag this season and I think they will get the job done but Bay of Plenty should not be underestimated (though they may be ransacked by the All Blacks) and Wellington have assembled a powerhouse squad, too. Expect Taranaki to have a good shield run early, but I am picking Waikato to hold the log by season's end. I'll let the keen reader decipher my thinking there.
Whoever wins, and wherever the shield winds up, I just want to see a game at Rugby Park played in a howling southerly carrying daggers of ice and the dying breath of an Antarctic storm, and a game in Whangarei in the kind of downpour that washes the piled drifts of winter leaves from the greening paths, and one in Napier under lights when the scrums go down in a cocoon of backlit steam, and one in Taranaki with mad Mike waving his Bulls flag and barking chants into the breeze. I want to watch the teams take the long walk down the tunnel in the Pukekohe, listening to the dissonant echo of sprigs crackling on the concrete.
I want to hear 'Bluuuuuuuuuueeeeeeee' startle the seagulls while the Taniwha roar in front of the kids who slide down Okara Park's grass banks on their muddy butts while their dads and grandads watch the game and moan about all the penalties.