News
Tasman reveal the pain
August 18 2008
After a thrilling 33-23 win over Taranaki on Saturday, a win that moves them to fifth place in the 14-team Air New Zealand Cup, the Tasman Makos' players and coach Todd Blackadder gave a frank appraisal of the pain they are feeling following the NZRU's decision to remove the side from next year's competition.
Blackadder called the decision a tragedy, pointing to the quandary the players in the side now face: whether to move in order to get higher-level rugby or whether to stay put and see their dreams fade.
"It's just a bloody tragedy really, isn't it?" said Blackadder on the Makos' website.
"I just think it's a tragedy for this region. It's a tragedy for young players and for all the aspiration that's out there."
"If any of these guys have an aspiration to play at a higher level than Heartland rugby then they're going to have to move away, aren't they? We could be talking about 20 to 30 players and that to me is the sad part of it all."
Scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'i, who spent much of this year on the fringes of the Crusaders' Super 14 squad, now reckons he will be forced to do the same at Canterbury if he is to stay with the Super 14 champs.
"That's the only option for me, I guess," he said.
"I'd like to stay in the Crusaders environment so Canterbury is probably the only place to go.
"Things were just starting to roll along quite well now and now it's been taken away from all the players and the younger guys who are coming up. We've got a few new guys in the team this year and there's a lot of good talent around the Tasman region."
Others who are locally born and bred are far less certain about what to do. Number eight Mark Bright is heading to the UK for a season and will weigh up his options there.
"It doesn't really give the kids in this region and upcoming talent anything to aspire to," he said.
"It's a shame really but we can't do a hell of a lot about it. We've just got to keep playing."
Fly-half James Marshall and lock Will Crutchley, both youngsters whose stars are on the rise, are both expecting to move away which, in the words of Crutchley "is a pity because I don't really want to go anywhere else".
"I've just got to keep playing and hopefully get an opportunity somewhere else. But I'm pretty gutted, to be honest. I'm really enjoying this place.
"All the boys have decided that we've pretty much just got to play for each other and play for the province and just do the best we can on the field - make the most of it."