The Brisbane Global Tens is set to go next month.
Fourteen teams take part, five from Australia, five from New Zealand, by which we mean the squads of the Super Rugby competition, plus four foreign invitees.
Overlooking for the moment that the Aussie representation in Super League has diminished by one side with the axing of the Western Force, the Rugby 10s raises an interesting scenario.
France is sending a side, but it will be headlined by former Wallabies skipper Ben Mowen and World Cup winner All Black Conrad Smith.
Are there any Frenchmen on the squad at all, or have they all prophylactically surrendered because there is a German player on the Fijian side?
We understand that rugby is an international game. We respect Mowen and Smith. Yet, we somehow find the idea of ex-pats returning to represent a foreign country disturbing.
The French side also includes Fijian winger Watisone Votu and Pom flanker named Steffon Armitage.
Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane must have been desperate to avoid sitting idle February 9 and 10, but we certainly do anticipate the pleasure of seeing short-format rugby of high calibre being played under any guise.
France, or New Zealand North, is sending its Pau side over. Smith is one of six Kiwis on the side. Mowen has been playing in France since the middle of 2014 after playing 15 Tests and serving as the captain of the Wallabies.
In order to get in, Pau had to commit to sending their top players, hence all the Aussies and Kiwis. Pau is coached by Simon Mannix, another former All Black, who had this to say concerning the confusing mix of nationalities in an international competition, “Nobody ever forgets where they come from, where they were formed as rugby players.The likes of Conrad Smith, Tom Taylor, Frank Halai, Benson Stanley and Jamie Mackintosh have such tremendous pride as New Zealanders so to pit themselves against Super Rugby players is a challenge they are really excited about.’’
We just wonder for whom to cheer.
