REFLECTING on the game for all Aotearoa a battle-hardened old bloke once told me, as he sipped his beer and dragged on a ciggie he'd rolled himself : "There's two types of fans. All Blacks fans and rugby fans."
It was an astute observation many years ago and it's even more relevant nowadays.
Obviously it's a chicken and egg scenario and yes you can't have one without the other but given the current crisis it would seem that the very foundation of rugby at community level needs to be stabilised before the upper tier of the game is further fine-tuned.
It's all very well to have "another enquiry" into Super Rugby but surely ensuring the survival of the game at community level is of more importance.
What happens to the clubs (and I'm not referring to the Super Rugby franchises) up and down the country given the current state of uncertainty?
Are they the responsibility of the the union they report to or are they the responsibility of NZ Rugby?
Hopefully the words of NZ Rugby CEO and former All Blacks midfielder Mark Robinson will offer some confidence for "rugby fans" when he wrote in the annual report:
"Without community rugby we wouldn’t have All Blacks, Black Ferns or Māori All Blacks. "However, more than that, we believe rugby strengthens and connects our communities through communication, teamwork, and enjoyment; as well as helping to keep people fit and healthy.”
Make a note of that.

WELL done to Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby President Bailey Mackey on his election to the board of New Zealand Rugby.
Mackey - who is a founder of high profile television company Pango Productions - will have a mandate to both protect and grow the interests of provincial rugby. This will be critical in years ahead especially with the much-loved Heartland Championship being sidelined due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Heartland seemed to be a soft target for rugby's cost cutters and Mackey must ensure the championship is not further diluted when (and perhaps "if") it kicks-off next year.

THE confirmation of Ian Kirkpatrick (pictured in a typically rampaging run with first-five Bob Burgess alongside him)  as Patron of New Zealand Rugby will be well received.
The iconic loose-forward who would be selected in any "ultimate" All Blacks XV has a down-to-earth manner that marks him as man of great humility.
Universally respected for his on and off-the-field attributes "Kirky" succeeds his great friend Sir Brian Lochore.

STAT of the day from the NZ Rugby annual report:
A total of 159,773 people played rugby in 2019, an increase of 2,492, while there were 31,035 female players, a rise of 11 percent from 2018.