By The Barfly
August 25 2004

A long, long time ago, it seems, there were some unwritten norms that were written into the international rugby calendar. Firstly, that there would be a five nations tournament every year. Secondly, that Australia and New Zealand would play each other three times for the Bledisloe Cup. Thirdly, the Lions would head overseas every three or four years. And finally, big nations would play little nations, and then each other, but only once every so often. That’s right. There was a time when England didn’t face Australia twice every year for a glorified vase, and when the South Africans didn’t make their way to Twickenham for an annual punch-up.

I remember the first time I saw the All Blacks. It was October 1993 at Twickenham in an encounter with London and the South East. In an era when there was still divisional representative rugby in England, the All Blacks played each of the four divisions, before tests against Scotland and England. To jog your memory, it was the tour when Phil De Glanville nearly had his eye stamped out somewhere in the southwest, but I forget where. Age, you see…

The previous time they visited, in 1989, they played Wales and Ireland, preceded by warm-ups against various clubs and provinces. It was the same with Australia, and many years before, with South Africa. What do we have now? In the global merry-go-round, nations drop in on each other like family members making the obligatory Christmas and birthday visits, never spending any more time than is necessary. Or as Greg Crowden put it so succinctly in the Sydney Morning Herald,

“For the players, the Tri Nations has become one quick pit stop after another, a succession of airport lounges, a few hours in another city, another hotel room, another overcast day, then off and away. So this is Friday, we must be in Durban. So this is Thursday, this must be Wellington. One can comprehend why the Tri Nations has lost its lustre, and so many New Zealanders and South Africans have grown tired of it, because it all appears to meld into one with triumphs and victors soon forgotten. It is getting that one-day-cricket feel - a tired formula which is quick froth for the masses.”

I know, it’s amazing, that an Australian journalist can actually write more than the Pom-bashing garbage that they’re famous for, but Crowden has a point. Sure, internationals sell out all over the world, but we all play each other so often that it isn’t an event any more.So should we play the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks less? Of course we should, but we should also be playing them in a different way. Aside from playing in a series, rather than one-off tests, international sides should tour, giving players experience and coaches the room to try out combinations in a less-pressured game environment. But tours also give us, the little people, a chance to see current internationals from overseas at the height of their powers.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, the first time I saw the All Blacks was in a tour match in London. And Chris_the_Saint also mentioned that the first time he saw New Zealand was at Welford Road on the same tour. My point is that kids, all of us in fact, will, unless we’re lucky enough to receive tickets in the club draw or to spend thousands on airfares, only ever see the likes of Carlos, Larkham, Barry et al on TV, at least until they come over here to enhance their pension plan. I’m not advocating a return to the time when some cobbled together divisional side would provide cannon fodder for the tourists, but a system for tours when visiting teams will play three or four premiership sides in the run-up to the test series with England.

Aside from providing the powers that be within individual clubs a money-spinning opportunity, it would also give people who can’t get tickets for internationals the chance to see touring teams up close and personal, so to speak. At the end of the day, rugby is both a sport and a business, and both aspects of the game still have massive room for growth. After all, what is better than a kid going to school on Monday still waxing lyrical about some of the moves he saw Carlos Spencer pull off on the Saturday at Franklin’s Gardens? I certainly know the impression my first viewing of the All Blacks had on me, as well as the time when John Kirwan blazed down Piggy’s Paddock on a Sunday afternoon back in 1993.

Have a good season. Cheers