Nick Cain: Here’s how All Blacks Test could have moved

There are times when it is blatantly obvious that the standards of excellence now demanded of England’s professional rugby players are not always mirrored in the administrative corridors at Twickenham.
While RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie deserves all the praise being heaped on him as the main mover and shaker in resolving the European Cup dispute, it is also clear that amateurism is alive and well in some departments of his organisation judging by the mess that has been made of the England’s summer tour schedule of New Zealand.
The fact that England will play the opening international of the three Test series in Auckland against the world champions minus the players involved in the Premiership final is the sort of cock up that a sport that prides itself on its professionalism, like American Football, would simply not tolerate.
My investigations this week have seen the RFU and the IRB passing the buck to each other (see our front-page story), with the New Zealand Rugby Union also refusing to be pro-active in resolving a problem created by a disagreement over when the June international window actually begins.
More than three years has elapsed since the IRB tour schedule was drawn up, allowing ample time for all the permutations to be examined and a satisfactory resolution found. However, that pre-supposes that there was a genuine will to resolve the problem of a full strength All Blacks side meeting a handicapped England side at Eden Park on June 7.
The fact that there was a relatively straightforward answer staring these administrative bodies in the face at least a year before the match is damning evidence of the lack of co-operation and joined up thinking prevalent in the international game.
Of the four Saturdays in the June international window, New Zealand have allocated three of them – June 7, 14 and 21 – to the series against England. The fourth Saturday, June 28, is allocated to Round 17 of the Super 15 competition.
That round involves only New Zealand and Australian sides, and of the five New Zealand franchises four of them are involved in all-Kiwi fixtures, Highlanders v Chiefs, and Hurricanes v Crusaders. The only trans-Tasman fixture involved the Blues playing the Western Force in Perth.
A simple re-jig, moving these Super 15 fixtures to the weekend of June 7, would therefore have enabled the final Test of the New Zealand v England series to have been played in Auckland on June 28.
If the second Test in Dunedin on June 14 had instead become the first Test it would have resolved all England’s issues. The Premiership final contingent would have been available for the Test because player welfare protocols demanding that they do not play on consecutive weekends when there is extensive travel and jet-lag involved would have been met.
Furthermore, the re-jig would have given Stuart Lancaster the opportunity to hold a three-day training camp in England before the whole squad left for New Zealand, and given them time to acclimatise at the other end.
It would also have given the New Zealand coach, Steve Hansen, the benefit of being able to play his All Blacks in highly competitive local derbies a week before tackling England.
The beauty of the plan is that there would have been minimum disruption, with the Dunedin Test (June 14) and Hamilton Test (June 21) staying on the dates originally scheduled, and a straightforward swap between the Super 15 and Auckland Test weekends (June 7 and 28).
This was obviously deemed to be in the ‘too difficult’ file by the IRB, and the NZRU.
An NZRU spokesman made his Union’s position clear to me this week: “The RFU did ask us well over a year ago if the date could be changed, but were told that the dates had already been set by the IRB.”
The New Zealand view is that England being handicapped for the first Test is not their concern. Why would it be?
Last summer New Zealand whitewashed France 3-0, with the French, like England, without their domestic Cup Final players for the opening Test.
That final, played between Castres and Toulon, featured only a handful of the France squad, some of them on the fringe. England will almost certainly be harder-hit, especially if it is a Saracens v Northampton final.