ITM's link to the Super Franchises

[TRF_Ezequiel]

I am going to start watching the ITM a bit too. Downloaded all the matches of round 1 and 2 so far. Not sure what to watch yet because it doesn't make any sense to me

In SA it's easy... Stormers = Western Province and the 4 other teams use basically the same name but include some players from other teams (Griquas players at the Cheetahs for instance) but the NZ teams don't make any sense!!! I don't know what the link to the S14 franchises is.


Can anyone tell me something about the ITM teams and what their connection is to the Super Rugby franchises?

 

[Sam Owen]

Im gonna try to the best of my knowledge...

Most players that play for a team/province around their closest major city, end up playing for that city in the Super franchises but in some cases there are players that are in a province/team and play for a different major city. I hope I explained it well...

Northland, North Harbour, Counties Manukau and Auckland are the main feeders to the Auckland Blues.

Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Waikato feed the Waikato Chiefs.

Manawatu, Taranaki and Wellington feed the Wellington Hurricanes.

Tasman and Canterbury for the Canterbury Crusaders.

Southland and Otago feed the Otago Highlanders.

But as Ive tried to explain before their are some players that end up playing for a different franchise despite playing for a different feeder club..i.e Israel Dagg plays for Hawkes Bay but next year will be playing for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. The majority of each franchise's players are from their feeder clubs.

 

[ranger]

Sam's almost got it right but its a bit off..

What happens is that the 14 teams are split among the 5 franchises, its roughly based on the geographical area the team is in.

The Blues (Top of the North Island): Northland, North Harbour, Auckland
The Cheifs (Middle of the North Island): Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Waikato
The Hurricanes (Bottom of the North Island): Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Wellington
The Crusaders (Top of the South Island): Tasman, Canterbury
The Highlanders (Bottom of the South Island): Otago, Southland

When the Super 15 teams select their sides, they can pick 24 players from the teams in their region. After each team picks their 24 players, the rest go into a draft, where they can be picked up by any team. This is why Israel Dagg ended up playing for the Highlanders even though hes from Hawkes Bay, the Hurricanes couldn't find any room for him in their 24 so he went into the draft and the Highlanders snatched him.
When a player gets picked up in the draft the team that picks them only gets them for that season, after that their franchise area gets the first opportunity to pick them again next year.

Sometimes, a player can be signed to a different ITM team to make them eligible for a different Super 14 side (Like Zac Guildford being signed to Canterbury so he can play for the Crusaders) but then they get loaned back to their original ITM side on the players request. (So that guys like Zac Guildford can play for their hometown at ITM level and then for the Crusaders at super 14.)

The rules have changed just this year though, so that a player doesn't have to transfer to another ITM team to get signed by a Super 14 outfit. As of this year the Super 14 sides can sign players directly, this is how Israel Dagg got signed to the Crusaders. The rule was changed largely because the Highlanders are struggling due to Otagos continued poor form in the ITM, this meant that for the last few years the Highlanders have had one decent ITM side to pick their players from and had to make up the rest of the side with players the other Super 14 sides didn't want (Through the Draft), where as the Hurricanes had a million ITM sides to choose from. This change should mean that in the next few years the player power should balance out and the Highlanders will stop coming third to last all the time.

 

[Dizzy]

Well explained ranger, yo ezequiel where do you dl the matches from, I've been wanting to dl matches for yonks

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

I don't think I can post that here. I want to send you a PM but you disabled it. Can you send me a PM with an emailaddress or enable your PM settings?

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

@ ranger: How is it possible that a player like Dagg who is an All Black, doesn't get picked by the franchise in his own region? Isn't that a bit weird?

 

[Jayatron]

A little history if your interested in the highlanders. During the whole "We're English lets take over everything and send millions of people to colonise everything" phase, lots of Scottish people headed to South Island and settled in Otago and Southland hence why there called the Highlanders.

 

[Dizzy]

@ ranger: How is it possible that a player like Dagg who is an All Black, doesn't get picked by the franchise in his own region? Isn't that a bit weird?

at the time, dagg wasn't an all black and the hurricanes felt they had the right players so dagg was overlooked. The hurricanes pretty much had a set team that they wanted to carry on from the previous season.

 

[Shaggy]

I think Dagg had injury worries a couple of seasons ago too, so possibly the Hurricanes didn't include him earlier on for that reason as well

 

[Dizzy]

True that bro

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Dizzy, you got my PM?

 

[smartcooky]

@ ranger: How is it possible that a player like Dagg who is an All Black, doesn't get picked by the franchise in his own region? Isn't that a bit weird?

Each Franchise can only "protect" a certain number of players (I think its 24) All other players must be made available to the "draft". This is to ensure that we don't end up with a cash rich "super-franchise" that gets the majority of the good players. e.g. Chelsea in EPL, Paris Stade-Francais in the Top 14,

If the Hurricanes had included Dagg in their protected players, they would have to give someone else up.

 

[ranger]

@ ranger: How is it possible that a player like Dagg who is an All Black, doesn't get picked by the franchise in his own region? Isn't that a bit weird?

Its just down to the discretion of the selectors really.. The reason they decided not to pick Dagg was because they already had Corey Jane for fullback, and bear in mind Dagg only became an AB after this years Super 14. Jane has publicly stated that he sees himself as a fullback first and foremost and the Hurricanes pretty much guaranteed that he would get the 15 jersey to himself. Added to that, they had Tamati Ellison to cover fullback, Ellison was an All Black at this stage and Dagg wasnt. Then they had Shannon Paku who could also play fullback, he was really a top notch player and although he wasnt an All Black he was part of the older leadership group in the Hurricanes.

The selectors mustn't have seen the point in carrying a young player who at this stage could only play15 when they had these other options. Long story short: Dagg didnt get picked for his own region because he wasn't good enough

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Well, in that case Dagg made a massive improvement in a short amount of time. Playing for the Crusaders for 1 year got him into the AB squad. The Crusaders btw are by far the most impressive team to me and the team I fear the most together with the Warratahs when they play the Sharks. We always struggle against those two. I'm happy I learned a bit about the NZ rules and all. Now I can understand the ITM cup better when I watch it

 

[ranger]

Well, in that case Dagg made a massive improvement in a short amount of time. Playing for the Crusaders for 1 year got him into the AB squad. The Crusaders btw are by far the most impressive team to me and the team I fear the most together with the Warratahs when they play the Sharks. We always struggle against those two. I'm happy I learned a bit about the NZ rules and all. Now I can understand the ITM cup better when I watch it

It was the two seasons with the Highlanders and 4 years of top notch rugby in the ANZC/ITM cup that got him his All Black jersey. The Crusaders have only just swooped in now that he has been capped as an All Black because they are evil ********. The ironic thing is that even now the Hurricanes probably wouldn't pick Israel Dagg because they have promised the 15 jersey to Jane. Ohwell.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Sorry for this noob question but if every franchise has already 24 players from its own surroundings and the rest of the players who are good enough to play super rugby are in the draft. How many additional players can be chosen by the Franchises? 4?
As I remember vaguely that every team consists out of 28 players

 

[Shaggy]

Sorry for this noob question but if every franchise has already 24 players from its own surroundings and the rest of the players who are good enough to play super rugby are in the draft. How many additional players can be chosen by the Franchises? 4?
As I remember vaguely that every team consists out of 28 players

Apparently it's increased to 30 or 32 and can include up to 2 overseas players now - this article explains it a bit

http://www.super14.com/news/viewarticle.asp?id=26365