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BY ANDREW MULLIGAN
With an eye to the future we’ll cast our gaze onto the ITM Cup and what it means to be a New Zealand rugby supporter.
For the last few seasons it’s been no secret that the way to save money is to stop spending it and that’s why the people at the NZRU do what they do.
One way to accomplish this was a thought to stop giving money to provincial unions who can’t make money and cast them off into oblivion known as ‘Non televised provincial matches’. But even that was going to cost a lot of money to run so they decided against that and instead, after a little bit of ‘lobbying’ we now have the second best domestic competition in the world behind the Currie Cup.
This is the way it should be for a long time to come, if you turn up you’ll witness young players playing for their province and higher honours. And if you don’t turn up some teams won’t survive because they can’t pay anyone because the salary cap is a percentage of income (36%) and that’s as far into all that Keynesian Economics that we here at ‘The Aftermatch’ are prepared to go.
It will change again next year but with the same 14 split into two with the ‘Premiership’ and ‘Championship’ glossing over the terms ‘top’ half and ‘bottom’ half.
So when Canterbury lift the trophy again that will be the last act of the domestic season but it probably won’t be the most dramatic moment because we imagine that in weeks 9 to 13 there will be mid table desperation as teams scramble to be at least 7th come late October.
Oh, and Southland will be hoping to hold on to the Shield and then there will be the integration of All Blacks after the Tri Nations conclude and players looking to get on the end of tour gravy train to Europe…
So cast your gaze to 7:35 tomorrow night as it kicks off live and in High Definition on Sky Sport because nothing says provincial rugby quite like New Plymouth in HD.
* Catch Andrew on The Crowd Goes Wild - weeknights 7pm on PRIME
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COLLEGE RUGBY
The school holidays forced us to have two weeks without some of the most exciting and spirited rugby seen on television in a long time (thankfully, the All Blacks seem to have been watching and taking note!). The new term is back in action, starting with what was a cracker of a game between reigning champs Hamilton Boys taking on rivals Napier Boys. You can catch all the action, the pre-match hakas, the previews, the interviews, the game highlights and the big hits from all the games only at skysport.co.nz.
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THE ALL BLACKS
Eden Park was the venue for the first Tri-Nations match of the year, with the fortress withstanding yet another Springbok assault. Wellington was next and the All Blacks raised the bar again with another bone-crunching performance! Check out the highlights from both games in preparation for the big Trans-Tasman clash this weekend, and we've also got an archive of all the games from the last few seasons. Just go to skysport.co.nz, and enjoy!
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SKY SPORT COLUMNISTS
For the best rugby opinion, analysis and humour, read what SKY's sporting experts have to say.
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Here's what we'll be watching:
Wednesday:
8.30pm LIVE: RugbyCentre with Ian Jones and Josh Kronfeld. Special guest: Tana Umaga. (Rugby Channel)
Thursday:
7.30pm LIVE: ITM CUP - Taranaki vs Northland, Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth (SKY Sport 1, Rugby Channel)
The Rugby Channel programme listing and times»
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