Manawatu v Wellington
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Higgins said:
But Va'a still has as Hurricanes contract from memory. Even if he doesn't they will almost certainly find a way of squirming him in there somewhere.
Va'a came on as a replacement in one game for Wellington. About 15 minutes. He did one cross field kick and it went backwards. But otherwise looked ordinary. (Although 15 minutes is not enough time)
He also started one pre-season game. He had a shocking injury run and it might take him time to return to form. If he ever does
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All very well signing up young props but you can only have a certain number of players in your squad. Signing 19 year old props who almost certainly will not play for a year or two only adds pressure on elsewhere where you will obviously go in with less than a full quota in some positions. All very well bringing in injury replacements if overworked players succumb to injury but playing injury replacements ahead of full contract holders stinks. If a player is awarded to contract then surely they must be compelled to play when required and before injury replacements are allowed to be included in match day 23s. Hiding them away as they are "not ready" simply is not acceptable. If you are paid a mans wage you must do a mans job.
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Higgins said:
All very well signing up young props but you can only have a certain number of players in your squad. Signing 19 year old props who almost certainly will not play for a year or two only adds pressure on elsewhere where you will obviously go in with less than a full quota in some positions. All very well bringing in injury replacements if overworked players succumb to injury but playing injury replacements ahead of full contract holders stinks. If a player is awarded to contract then surely they must be compelled to play when required and before injury replacements are allowed to be included in match day 23s. Hiding them away as they are "not ready" simply is not acceptable. If you are paid a mans wage you must do a mans job.
The way things are now if the Canes don't sign promising players another team well. They issue is they have taken a punt on players who haven't done much. But Aumua for example they had to sign. Proctor looks like another punt worth taking. And I would take a punt on Numia. He's 19 and has already done OK at NPC level
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If other franchises do that then they will run into the problem of also making sure they have sufficient players to cover all positions and eventualities. I object strongly to "project" players being hidden away and not earning the money they are being paid, especially so in situations where the franchise brings in and plays an injury replacement player ahead of someone already being paid to play. If franchises try that the NZRFU should insist all fully contracted players must play before any injury replacements drafted in be permitted to take the field.
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Higgins said:
If franchises try that the NZRFU should insist all fully contracted players must play before any injury replacements drafted in be permitted to take the field.
You can't do this. It would mean playing an out of form for whatever reason player as opposed to someone who is in better form
Teams can (rightly) replace injured players. The replacement must have the same status as the player they replace. (And these young players signed are not paid huge money. Its to get them in the system and to make sure they focus on rugby and training etc.)
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I appreciate your point but most squads have two or three players in their contracted players capable of playing in each position.
Not sure what you mean by "huge money". Every fully contracted player is payed a minimum figure, a few years back that was $75000.00. To me that is an awful lot of my money (as a financial member of a couple of rugby clubs any money the NZFRU has is partly mine) being spent without any tangible return. If a franchise has no intention of playing a guy and relying on injury replacements (presumably at ACC or additional NZRFU expense) to make that situation possible why sign them in the first place? Bringing in an injury replacement is ok but playing them ahead of one of the initially contracted players capable of playing in that position is simply not cricket.
Using the Hurricanes as an example, they play a former All Black flanker at lock, someone they themselves list on their website as a loose forward. Shouldn't they be compelled to play him on the blindside if Brad Shields got injured before being allowed to play Shields' injury replacement player in the number 6 jersey? -
Great to see Aumua fit and in form again. Hopefully he's learned his lesson about nutrition. He could still be a bolter for the All Blacks World Cup squad.
Ben Lam was excellent again. An amazing athlete. I have absolutely no idea why NMS is in the All Blacks squad ahead of him.
