New Zealand Rugby's ITM Cup 2012 Structure - Too Full!
The ITM Cup has been labelled a "coach killer" by some coaches because of the lack of time not only for players to recover from injuries sustained during matches with short turnarounds, but also for the lack of opportunities for coaches to rectify poor performances because training time is so limited. Teams are required to play up to three matches in seven days, leaving them very little time to improve and keep their players fresh.
The strength of the ITM Cup is the young talent coming through the ranks, but unfortunately some of this talent is being lost to injuries or having their growth stunted by a lack of coaching, simply because players don't train much anymore for fear of player burnout. The fans are also not showing up in their numbers because there are heaps of games being played at inconvenient times including midweek matches and late on Sunday afternoons. It is great for those who love having footy on television six days a week.
I love the format of the ITM Cup and the new rules being trialled at the moment but wish that it could start two weeks earlier which would enable them to scrap some of the midweek matches and allow some more rest and training time for teams. This would mean encroaching on the club season and not allowing Super Rugby players involved in playoffs much of a break, but unions could then slowly release their top players back into the ITM Cup and it would mean that more of it takes place in winter which used to be the rugby season.
The problems
Because of the scheduling, the ITM Cup only has an eight week window, this must take place after club and Super Rugby commitments. While the bigger unions want a 10 team competition, this could mean the demise of the smaller unions like Northland and Southland as no decent players would want to play for a second division team. That is why I love the current format. It includes all of the decent sized provinces in New Zealand rugby and still allows them to play against some of the big teams thanks to the four crossover matches played between divisions. It also gives Championship teams a shot at promotion to the Premiership with this happening automatically. I also like the way that the bottom team in the Premiership gets relegated, even though this was my favourite team the Southland Stags last season, because it gives teams out of contention an incentive to keep trying until the end of the season.
The salary cap and the fact that teams who get relegated have the opportunity to play against some top teams while attempting to get promoted the next season means it isn't all over and that teams don't get relegated and lose all their good players.
The NZRU also has to deal with providing all teams with five home games and somehow fit a full competition within an impossible eight week window. This means having matches during the week which diminishes crowd numbers, means more injuries and recovery time and less time for coaches to rectify problems. It means that player depth is really tested and that sometimes it is really difficult to recognise players who turn out for each province.
I also think that certain matches have to be played on weekends to get bumper crowds. Matches between neighbouring unions like Otago vs Southland need to take place on weekends to allow fans to travel and stay for the weekend. This address dwindling crowd numbers.
Options
It has been nearly ten years since the review into the National Provincial Championship structure and I think the NZRU have got it right with this format, but they need to find two or three more weeks somewhere. This would have to cut into the club rugby season, or they need to push club rugby forward to start earlier. This would allow more down time for teams, but not at the expense of momentum. It would also allow coaches to do their job and players and fans a chance to have a break midweek. Then you would hopefully get better crowds at matches. It will also hopefully allow players a better chance to recover properly and if someone gets injured it will increase their chances of playing again in the competition.
Other options involving two pools of seven teams mean that there wouldn't be enough of an incentive for the bottom teams of each pool, while one pool of ten teams would be sad because you would have four decent teams in the Heartland Championship. It could however improve the standard of matches in the ITM Cup as the players are spread across less teams.
I love the ITM Cup 2012 because there are games on six days a week and there are new rules being trialled which have sped up the game, but it isn't sustainable to run the current format over only eight weeks. The fatigue looks to be setting in for fans who aren't showing up to games, coaches and players as teams are playing up to three matches in a week. I love the current format which is the ultimate compromise, but if it is to be sustainable it needs to start a few weeks earlier and some midweek games need to be removed from the calendar.
What do you think of the ITM Cup structure? Is it a player and coach killer? Would it lose momentum if it was played over a longer period of time? Should it start during the club season or move the club season forward?
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