[chuck]

For me Rugby is a southwest of France (part of the )culture . But our club here in Paris is a strong one . (with a stupid name)

Which Parisian squad is it that turns out in pink jerseys? Toulon is doing well - should win promotion to the Div 1 next year - but Tana Umaga has gotten into a bit of trouble. He does have a team of all-star ex-internationals though - crazy money being spent there!

You can't keep your players at home if you don't have enough clubs, money and challenge. Because now these is a pro game not anymore an amateur one . ( i am not old enough to know what it was like when rugby was more or less amateur) ( we have the same trouble with football , all our good ones are playing outside)
We have players from Argentina and they said it helps and helped improve rugby level in this country .

One of the cited reasons for a lot of the younger players leaving to play in the UK is because they got bored of the routine and the schedule of games here in NZ/Oz/SA - and so they are keen to try playing in another country - which has different tournaments. The HEC, the Premiership, the French divisions, even Japan's league - all offer different styles of play and challenge to these young guys.

Argentinian rugby is a little like South American football - all the quality players work in Europe - because that is where the money is. At an international level they struggle because they don't get a lot of tests - unlike the big three in the SH - Oz, SA and NZ. It would be a logistical nightmare to include them in the current Tri-Nations tournament - purely because of flying times - it's already a 12+ hour flight between SA and NZ - Auckland to Santiago direct is 16 hours!

well i don't know : if your rule of "no play in no play for " doesn't work maybe you may try to focus on young very young player . ( from NZ and Pacific )

Oh - don't worry - we're doing that. The great thing about NZ rugby is there are many players coming through the ranks - and it's about training and using them as best we can.

Here's a name for you to keep an eye out for - huge potential - and being mentioned as the next Lomu. Loose forward who could play on the wing, and a movie star name to match: Victor Vito

of course i've got the solution it's a communist one ! let's have almost the same payment for every kind of player ( i said kind not for every one of them).

At the moment that is what happens here in NZ - players sign a contract with the NZRFU - then depending on what level of rugby they play - they get paid a set fee - plus game bonuses and such - so there's a base level salary for being a S14 player, then a Junior All Black, Maori, Sevens, All Black.

Not sure of the exact levels - but it's a pretty standard contract. Individuals can negotiate commercial deals - as long as they don't go against NZRFU contracts. So Adidas are the major sponsor of the NZRFU - you can't go off and get a local contract with Nike.

ok it won't work , well let's do a fair 'transfer' , i will take a NZ for a french one !

One of the big issues is there are no transfer fees - when a player leaves NZ, they get the cash - neither the NZRFU or their club get any money for developing, training, supporting them through the years. And a number of players have basically been released from their contracts on personal reasons - basically because they don't want to play in NZ anymore. (ie. they're getting more cash overseas)

NH clubs take SH players - and no money goes back to the SH unions for developing those players. The real danger will come when NH clubs start signing 17-18 year old rugby players - before they even get into our development systems here. Then NZ rugby will struggle to compete.

as you can see i can't talk your way . But Rugby is a special game.

You certainly do speak our way - and you speak true - rugby is a special game. The game they play in heaven, as they say.