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'Challenging for all involved': Blues, Chiefs join Crusaders in cutting staff jobs due to pandemic

(Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The Blues and Chiefs have joined the Crusaders in making staff redundancies as the New Zealand franchises continue to grapple with the financial effects of the coronavirus.

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In statements to the Herald, both northern franchises confirmed the cuts had been necessary despite emergency funding of $250,000 to each of the five franchises from New Zealand Rugby. Like many other businesses in New Zealand, the franchises have also taken up the offer of government support.

The final round of Super Rugby was played on the weekend of March 14-15 before the competition was suspended. Only seven rounds have been played this season and the franchises have suffered through a lack of gate takings and corporate opportunities.

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The Hurricanes and Highlanders have said they have not yet cut staff numbers.

As New Zealand continues to curtail the transmission of the coronavirus and loosen the restrictions on gatherings and professional sport – the Government has signalled that professional sport could be possible in alert level two (just over three weeks away at least) – there is hope on the horizon for the Kiwi franchises. However, even should a domestic Super Rugby competition start in the middle of the year the financial implications will be long lasting.

NZ Rugby’s staff have taken a pay cut of 20 per cent and the five franchises have also asked staff to take a short-term salary reduction. New Zealand’s top players have also agreed to big pay cuts.

“This is a really challenging time for all involved and we are working alongside New Zealand Rugby and the other four Super Rugby Clubs to ensure we are in a position to resume Super Rugby,” Chiefs chief executive Michael Collins said.

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“We along with a number of business have utilised the Government’s wage subsidy for our staff. However, we have had to make changes to our organisational structure due to the impact of Covid-19. Unfortunately this has impacted some of our staff, and as a result some fantastic and talented people have been affected.”

Blues chief executive Andrew Hore said: “As with all businesses in New Zealand in these unprecedented times, we have had to look at all areas of our finances in order to remain as a viable operation.

“This involves our staffing levels where we have made some redundancies which remain private employment matters. We have also made adjustments in salaries with the heartfelt support from our staff, who have also pruned expenditure in most aspects of our business.

“We are appreciative of the remarkable and positive contribution and support from our staff.”

The staff cuts are likely to be made to the administration rather than playing side of the franchises; in other words, commercial or marketing teams rather than coaching or management teams.

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Highlanders general manager of rugby Greg O’Brien said: “At this stage there are no redundancies at the Highlanders as a result of the covid situation however as has been previously reported our staff have taken a salary reduction.”

Avan Lee, the Hurricanes chief executive, said “This crisis is incredibly difficult for most organisations and we are no different. Our staff have accepted salary reductions in the short-term. We will not be making any further comment as this discussion is not a public matter.”

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

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