I'm writing this on a sunny Auckland Sunday morning immediately following the Super 12 final. A great contest with, I believe, the right result for New Zealand rugby.

The Blues showed they could step up a level and absorb pressure. Carlos Spencer demonstrated he had the maturity to handle test football.

Mehrtens/Marshall and Spencer/Devine, playing in two different phases in a test, is a frightening prospect for opposition coaches. 

Two distinctive winning game-plans to counter. I have no idea who John Mitchell named in the All Blacks on the following Monday but one thing I was certain of was this: the bulk of the squad will come from the Blues and the Crusaders.

Another thing of which I am certain: Mainlanders will believe the selectors have been over-influenced by form, those north of the Bombay Hills will believe the selectors are living in the past. 

We certainly have a luxury of riches and picking the best from each system and driving them to peak performance is the challenge in front of Mitchell and his coaching staff. It's a challenge we're lucky to have, and one which only France shares with us in 2003.

Our success in the Super 12 is a real tribute to superior coaching and our historical broad talent base. The NZRU has been criticised on numerous occasions for their franchise development and allocations but it's hard to argue with our success record in the competition. 
     

I remember mapping out the original concept of Super 12 when I was advising the NZRU almost a dozen years ago. Richie Guy, Rob Fisher and Laurie Mains were all instrumental in generating ideas for the Super 10, the Super 12, and none of us involved, I am sure, could ever have anticipated its fantastic success. It has been a core part of the News TV deal and has contributed significantly to the development of rugby union in New Zealand financially, from a player point of view, and from involving a new audience. Super 12 has been international entertainment at its very best.

There is no doubt, though, that it has also resulted in even more significant benefits for Australia. They have expanded their player base, given a broader depth of talent more experience, and upgraded their coaches' experience and opportunities significantly. 

Who could ever have expected the Brumbies to be the power they have become? In Canberra nowadays they have become the elite team, leaving the once-mighty Raiders in the dust. The Africans have found it very hard to expand their provincial parochialism into the Super 12 format, particularly away from home, and internal politics have not seen their coaching expertise broadened as much as we have seen in New Zealand and Australia.

Our dominance of the competition has been a double-edged sword. Whilst generating more players with test pedigree and more international level coaching expertise, we have also seen New Zealand's mystique threatened. 

Constant video surveillance and analysis has reduced many of our competitive advantages and our game plans, tactics, and strategies by opposition coaches are dissected within 24 hours of each game. 

This obviously puts more pressure on coaches and players for innovation and ideas. This is where I believe the Blues scored highly this season. Off the field Peter Sloane, Bruce Robertson, Graham Henry, Sean Fitzpatrick, and their teams were constantly looking for new, better ways.

On the field, Carlos Spencer set the standard by turning to league to think through new tactics and then leading the way in training through constant practice and application. 

To me, Carlos now looks like a lucky player. As Woody Hayes said, "luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity". Carlos is ready and prepared; I am sure he will get an opportunity with the All Blacks this season to bring innovation in to the test arena… and surprise opposition coaches, tacticians and players alike.

I hope, though, that there is no resting on laurels as far as the Super 12 competition is concerned. It, too, needs innovation. And I don't mean more idiotic mascots, fireworks, or cheerleaders. 

I think we need to find ways to upgrade the competition, to reopen the gap against the northern hemisphere, and to re-establish a platform of competitive advantage for New Zealand.

I was talking to Ron Cribb the other day, who parenthetically is eager to make an impact in the NPC later this year. (If he can refocus his energies and passion positively it would be great to see his ball playing skills as an option to the crash, bang, wallop of many other current Number 8s in the game.) 
    

He was talking to me about the difficulties that clubs are facing in terms of their elite players. As we all know, if an All Black turns out for his club once a season nowadays it's nothing short of a miracle. 

Ron was concerned about the gap between school first XV football, club football, and then NPC and Super 12. He was wondering whether we had lost one of our major advantages, i.e. our broad player base by a super funneling and concentration into Super 12 too early.

Interestingly enough, Graham Lowe, who knows something about coaching, was in my office a couple of days later talking about pretty much the same thing. He was also concerned about players getting 'spoilt' too early - temptations, sponsored cars and easy money. No more hard yards; no more gruelling club and NPC apprenticeships. How do we keep our grass roots advantage?

Ron's thought was to move from the Super 12 to a Super 6. Each country plays their domestic competitions and then the top two sides from each country meet home and away in a Super 6 tournament. 
    

This would have benefits for New Zealand as we have a much broader player base than Australia. It would re-ignite provincial rugby and club rugby and generate terrific parochial pride in qualifying for a Super 6.

It obviously has down sides in terms of television revenue but it could go a long way in player development and player retention.

I hope that the competition experts in Wellington are giving this Super 12 some serious thought. It would be all too easy to simply carry on as we are. Or to tamper incrementally. Who else but John O'Neill believes in a not so Super 14! 

We were outsmarted by Australia on the Rugby World Cup. We should now be thinking how we can reinforce and regain advantage by restructuring a Super 12 that will make New Zealand stronger.

Our success in Super 12 has given the selectors some options and some headaches. Given the depth of talent we have available, the selectors' job will be to match that talent for the game plan they want to play to prepare for the World Cup. 

It's all too easy to go either the Crusaders route or the Blues route. Success will come to us if we can marry the best of both and take them to the highest possible level without compromise.

Clive Woodward has said he will bring his strongest team and base it around Jonny Wilkinson. This is the best news for the All Blacks. 

We have the perfect lead-in to the World Cup and have exactly the right kind of match-ups. England, France and Wales (even under my old mate Moffo and Steve Hansen's guidance) will find it difficult to improve through a tournament and to win big games back to back. The Tri-nations is a much better experience for this than the Six Nations where there are too many easy weekends.

World Cups are won by teams that play, learn, and improve throughout the tournament. 

Our pre-tournament fixtures are ideal; our group is just tough enough. Italy, Canada, Wales, and Tonga will all test us in different areas so by quarter-final's time (South Africa?) we should have combinations worked out and real momentum. 

I remain optimistic that innovation, aggressive defence, pace, and superior coaching will deliver the World Cup to New Zealand. We have fantastic talent as we have seen throughout the Super 12. John Mitchell's job will be to get his eagles to fly in formation to victory. At last!

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