RugbyRebels

zer0 wrote:Supposedly more similar deals are being worked on with other European and Japanese clubs. IIRC all the speculation is that they're with clubs that have strong NZ connections, mostly through coaching. If that's the case, then I imagine the NZRU will still be heavily involved in monitoring their players workloads.

Considering that London's NZ connection and adidas is the reason they went with the Quins, I expect they'll be talking to one of:

NTT Shining Arcs
Suntory Sungoliath
Ricoh Black Rams

as the potential Top League equivalents, with NTT or Ricoh being the likelier (Suntory has stronger links to Australia, NTT is coached by Rob Penney and while Ricoh is coached by Matt Cockbain, there's a reasonable Kiwi contingent in the playing squad). All three clubs are based in the Kanto region, where the Kiwis usually end up (NTT is based in Chiba, Suntory and Ricoh play out of Tokyo).

Meanwhile, Brive is the only Top 14 club I can find with an adidas sponsorship but the other clubs have stronger Kiwi contingents.

According to The Times, NEv is already in NZ for two weeks with Wayne Smith.

That’s great if it’s true

Mellsblue wrote:According to The Times, NEv is already in NZ for two weeks with Wayne Smith.

Good to see this tie in is helping English rugby as well as NZ.

Puja