'I think New Zealand are the ones who are under a lot of pressure'

Haha, I think we’ve had him identify himself here..

He would have been offered those terms (“great money”) to return this year however, and chose not to.

So you’re saying Richie was not ready in 2019? That’s the same thing as being chosen and failing. No ones criticizing him, they are simply stating a fact. Most likely to people that believe he was the best option.

Is there anything hard in sports than to be a great All Black?

I reckon Richie freed himself to try that last year and a bit.

Before that he just wasn’t sure if he had it, if he should but the one. It is such a privilege jersey that number 10 especially. But nobody else was, so why not try and see if it can be me.

Of course the nature of a sabbatical is that you don’t need to worry about your form, you will get some sort of leeway (months) to get back upto speed. Jordie is not really a normal example of that, as in his case he is young and it was probably more about his aspect of development than a reward, so we’ll have to see where the balance may lay.

Also no new Super Rugby newbie will be able to replace the experience Barrett has at the international level

That is also the exact reason why now would be the time to pick those players. You have to remember, these sorts of changes all have a mind around the Rugby World Cup for a country that does have to cycle out their old players while they’re still performing.

I would already rank several in New Zealand better than Jordie, but I don’t think that implies you are wrong about there being readymade replacements or not. It is more likely an issue with your perception of Jordies abillity.

As for the Sharks, there's maybe a light at the end of the tunnel however, if they just follow my advice. I haven't watched their recent games but now I see where their problems lie. Three of them in fact. Firstly, get rid of Plumtree for - at the minimum - selecting reasons (2) and (3). Secondly and thirdly, get rid of the Hendrikse brothers. Who on earth thinks that those two are top quality rugby players needs to be in an asylum, or they'll likely send a lot of the Sharks supporters there instead, if they haven't already. They are useless - I mean, FFS, the so-called flyhalf can't even select boots that don't slip when he's taking multiple placekicks (to say stuffall about trying to put penalty kicks from 60 metres over - and failing - when a freaking lineout might have produced a try, even if he missed the conversion) - and I can now see why the team of ‘real’ Boks are doing so badly, having two idiots at scrumhalf and flyhalf. If they stay in the squad, Sharks supporters should rather cash in their season tickets and go watch the best English-speaking (and sixth all-round overall) SA rugby team, Westville Boys High, than suffer so much pain at King's Park.

That transition through NPC is the really important one. Rookies in SR simple aren’t upto the elite standards set by the international-quality-franchise/state-makeup. You need to perform at a good level before SR before you can get a contract.

The other big gap is how good players fill NPC. U18/20 yo’s are too young, as NPC is full of SR players, I really like the idea of kids around 21/22 coming out of a university system. Their could be a Super Rugby draft, and the kids go into the SR teams provinces (so a SR club has 50+ players registered etc, but half aren’t with the squad). And again, a club comp that competes with NPC for recognition.