Campbell Burns on Rugby
Former Manu Samoa No 10 and freelance rugby scribe Campbell Burnes argues that New Zealand Rugby should do away with the problematic NPC ‘Storm Week’.
As you enjoy the NPC over the coming weeks, spare a thought for the coaches and the players.
All 14 teams will have to endure, at some point in the competition, the dreaded, the vexed, ‘Storm Week.’
That is when they have to front for three games in 8-9 days, including a Wednesday night outing. Often that places a helluva strain on thin resources as injuries take their toll. Players don’t mind the light training load through this time, but NPC coaches tear their hair out over it. So much for player welfare.
Sometimes, the full impact of ‘Storm Week’ is not felt until you come through it. In 2023, for example, Bay of Plenty won all three clashes in their ‘Storm Week,’ held at the tail-end of the regular season, but then came a cropper in the second stanza of their home quarter-final. In short, they were zapped. The Steamers are not trying to use that as an excuse, but that was what transpired.
The reason for the ‘Storm Week’ is apparently simple. New Zealand Rugby wants the competition to run over a 12-week window, from early August to late October. That is nine rounds plus three weekends of playoffs rugby.
And yet in 2010 we had all teams play each other and then straight to a top four/semifinals playoffs format. That was ideal, except for the fact that the NPC, then known as the ITM Cup, kicked off in late July, impinging on club finals. Even as it stands now, there is an uneasy overlap between teams going fulltime and club finals in July. Some provincial unions do it better than others.
You would have to say, and those who are against the ‘Storm Week’, such as Ross Filipo of Waikato and Neil Barnes of Waikato, certainly do say, that there is no need for quarter-finals. Some of the smaller unions may argue that a top eight format still gives them hope to make the playoffs, given their relative meagre resources compared to the large/Super Rugby base unions. Maybe so, but that does not make it right.
Filipo even told Rugby News mag recently that it would have been a travesty if his Waikato mob had made the 2023 NPC semifinals after scraping into the quarters and nearly toppling top qualifier Wellington in a 1 vs 8 clash.
The best format for Super Rugby came in the first 10 years of the competition, when all 12 teams played each other and vied for a top four berth. It was easy to follow, streamlined and rewarded excellence.
We seem to be obsessed with following the NRL, which has an eight-team finals series, allowing teams with negative win-loss records to reach the ‘post-season.’
Super Rugby Pacific is even worse, eight teams out of 12 making the cut.
The NPC should do itself a favour. If it cannot have a full, bonafide round-robin, as the case is now where all teams play 10, not 13, matches, then simply cut the ‘Storm Week’ and the quarter-finals weekend. That would mean it’s all on to crack the semifinals and it still fills the 12-week window.
Furthermore, that would allow the poor PU marketing teams to not have to try and promote a home fixture on a wet/cold Wednesday night in late winter. It would also mean the players can get adequate rest between games, with maybe the odd 5-6 day turnaround, as opposed to 3-4 days.
Is that not fair and logical for a competition that needs to get as much going right for it as possible?
