Having your cake and eating it too: could Japan be the new Europe?
After the somewhat less than impressive season with the Hurricanes in Season 2011, beginning with a red card and suspension in the first round, it looked as though the NZRU may be in danger of losing Ma'a Nonu from New Zealand Rugby. This on top of all the ruckus at the Hurricanes this season, when he and his long standing team-mate Andrew Hore were sacked, we could have seen Nonu's services lost to any of the number of a lucrative offers from cash rich French rugby clubs.
However, at what seemed like the eleventh hour, Nonu has signed a contract with the NZRU that will see him remain with New Zealand Rugby (playing for the Blues in 2012) and including an interesting element; a "sabbatical" clause that will allow him to play in Japan, yet still retain his eligibility to play for the All Blacks, and without missing any matches in the next Super Rugby season.
Sabbatical clauses are nothing new. Dan Carter had one and played for Perpignan at the end of 2008, and Richie McCaw has one as well, though it appears likely he will take some rest (perhaps a few weeks off gliding and/or hunting) rather than playing. What is unique about Nonu's clause though, is that he will be going to Japan during the New Zealand off season, and returning in time to start with the Blues in Round 1 of 2012.
Playing rugby in Japan has never been a serious option for many top level players, as the remuneration has been nowhere near high enough to compensate for the player losing his NZRU imposed New Zealand eligibility status. However, a number of current and potential All Blacks (and their agents/managers) may well be reviewing this position in the near future. There are several aspects of negotiating a Japanese sabbatical that could make it a serious alternative to playing in Europe.
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Length of the season. The Japan Top League is a 14-team competition that only runs for about 15 weeks from the beginning of September to a Grand Final around the end of January the following year. A player with a sabbatical contract could easily hook up with their club in about the 2nd or 3rd round after the Four Nations has been completed (the sabbatical clause allowing them to stand down from end of year tours). Now compare that with Europe where the domestic season is a long and arduous 40 week grind, and the thought of playing in Japan instead begins to appeal.
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Level of competition. The standard of the Top League is much lower than Europe's elite competitions or Super Rugby; lower even than the ITM Cup. I have a friend who used to play for Ricoh, and he reckoned he could have played until he was 40 years old with little difficulty. The other point he made was that he was rarely hurt. He reckons they generally don't tackle as hard and they rarely descend to dirty or overly rough play.
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The money. A good ITM Cup player or almost any Super Rugby player can earn NZ$500,000 plus for three months playing rugby. Sure, its not as much as a player can earn in Europe, but then you only have to play for three months instead of nine an a half…. nice work if you can get it.
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Available places. Recent changes to the Japan Top League competition rules have seen an increase in the number of foreign players allowed on the field at one time. Previously it was two; one of which must have played, or be eligible to play for Japan. This has been increased to three players with one eligible, a change that has effectively doubled the number of non-Japan eligible players allowed on the field from 14 to 28 every weekend. In addition to the three foreign players, one member of an Asian union, such as South Korea or Hong Kong is also allowed. Foreign bench players are additional to this.
I would not be at all surprised to see more of this in the future as the NZRU looks to retain its top talent without having to sell the sheep station to pay for it. A little top up of New Zealand rugby salaries with some Japanese Yen would be most welcome in these recessionary times, when the NZRU has had to dig into their cash reserves a little to pay the bills.
