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Aaron Cruden issues warning for Super Rugby Aotearoa in wake of NRL resumption

(Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)

Chiefs star Aaron Cruden says the injury issues that have begun striking the NRL are a lesson to Super Rugby players when they return to contact training.

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Former All Blacks five-eighth Cruden was among more than 100 of New Zealand’s elite players to rejoin his teammates on Monday as the five Kiwi Super Rugby teams began preparations for their revamped competition.

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QRU boss David Hanham and RA director of rugby Scott Johnson address media

Queensland CEO David Hanham and Rugby Australia Director of Rugby Scott Johnson talks about the three players who were stood down in a pay dispute

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QRU boss David Hanham and RA director of rugby Scott Johnson address media

Queensland CEO David Hanham and Rugby Australia Director of Rugby Scott Johnson talks about the three players who were stood down in a pay dispute

Super Rugby Aotearoa kicks off on June 13 when Cruden’s Chiefs face the Highlanders in Dunedin, beginning two months of domestic round-robin action.

While excited to be part of what will be the world’s first rugby union action since the coronavirus outbreak disrupted world sport, Cruden said it is critical the players learn lessons from another code across the Tasman.

In recent days Warriors pair Leeson Ah Mau (pectoral) and Jazz Tevaga (knee) have suffered serious injuries soon after returning to contact work, along with Bulldogs winger Marcelo Montoya (hamstring).

“That’s probably the biggest challenge for a lot of contact sports and unfortunately it’s the nature of the beast,” Cruden said.

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“You’ll do a calf injury probably when you feel it’s not warranted.

“I think for us with it, with the target being four weeks time for the first game, we can sort of work backwards from there.”

Players were briefed on COVID-19 safety protocols on Monday before the Chiefs’ trainers laid out the need for players treat the next month as a mini pre- season, with graduated contact work.

Cruden expected the all-Kiwi competition to be a “humdinger” based on the intensity that usually accompanies derby games.

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The 50-test veteran confirmed he had been granted an extension to stay in New Zealand by Japanese club Kobelco Steelers, who will gain the services of the 31-year-old at the completion of Super Rugby Aotearoa in mid-August.

It shapes as Cruden’s swansong in New Zealand, with the former Montpellier playmaker revealing he is closing to confirming another offshore club contract.

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J
JW 44 minutes ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I rated Lowe well enough to be an AB. Remember we were picking the likes of George Bridge above such players so theres no disputing a lot of bad decisions have been made by those last two coaches. Does a team like the ABs need a finicky winger who you have to adapt and change a lot of your style with to get benefit from? No, not really. But he still would have been a basic improvement on players like even Savea at the tail of his career, Bridge, and could even have converted into the answer of replacing Beauden at the back. Instead we persisted with NMS, Naholo, Havili, Reece, all players we would have cared even less about losing and all because Rieko had Lowe's number 11 jersey nailed down.


He was of course only 23 when he decided to leave, it was back in the beggining of the period they had started retaining players (from 2018 onwards I think, they came out saying theyre going to be more aggressive at some point). So he might, all of them, only just missed out.


The main point that Ed made is that situations like Lowe's, Aki's, JGP's, aren't going to happen in future. That's a bit of a "NZ" only problem, because those players need to reach such a high standard to be chosen by the All Blacks, were as a country like Ireland wants them a lot earlier like that. This is basically the 'ready in 3 years' concept Ireland relied on, versus the '5 years and they've left' concept' were that player is now ready to be chosen by the All Blacks (given a contract to play Super, ala SBW, and hopefully Manu).


The 'mercenary' thing that will take longer to expire, and which I was referring to, is the grandparents rule. The new kids coming through now aren't going to have as many gp born overseas, so the amount of players that can leave with a prospect of International rugby offer are going to drop dramatically at some point. All these kiwi fellas playing for a PI, is going to stop sadly.


The new era problem that will replace those old concerns is now French and Japanese clubs (doing the same as NRL teams have done for decades by) picking kids out of school. The problem here is not so much a national identity one, than it is a farm system where 9 in 10 players are left with nothing. A stunted education and no support in a foreign country (well they'll get kicked out of those countries were they don't in Australia).


It's the same sort of situation were NZ would be the big guy, but there weren't many downsides with it. The only one I can think was brought up but a poster on this site, I can't recall who it was, but he seemed to know a lot of kids coming from the Islands weren't really given the capability to fly back home during school xms holidays etc. That is probably something that should be fixed by the union. Otherwise getting someone like Fakatava over here for his last year of school definitely results in NZ being able to pick the cherries off the top but it also allows that player to develop and be able to represent Tonga and under age and possibly even later in his career. Where as a kid being taken from NZ is arguably going to be worse off in every respect other than perhaps money. Not going to develop as a person, not going to develop as a player as much, so I have a lotof sympathy for NZs case that I don't include them in that group but I certainly see where you're coming from and it encourages other countries to think they can do the same while not realising they're making a much worse experience/situation.

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