NEW ZEALAND are resigned to losing their outhalf Daniel Carter to a club in Europe at the end of the year and are considering giving him a sabbatical. It would mean he would spend 18 months abroad but remain on a central contract, ensuring he would feature in the 2011 World Cup.
The 26-year old's contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union runs out at the end of the year and he is attracting considerable interest from Europe, not least Stade Francais, the richest club in France. England would also be a potential destination, with Leicester already linked with the outhalf's deputy in the All Blacks team, Nick Evans.
Reports in New Zealand yesterday suggested that Carter, who despite a quiet World Cup is still widely regarded as the leading fly-half in the world, is mulling over offers worth €618,314 a year, a figure the NZRU could not hope to match. The NZRU hopes allowing Carter some time away would persuade Evans, who has attracted interest from France and Ireland as well as England, to remain at home, but its lack of financial muscle is forcing it to look at alternative ways of resisting the lure of Europe.
"The union has a think-tank looking at ways to keep players but the issue is much deeper than that," said the All Blacks' assistant coach Wayne Smith, a former director of rugby at Northampton.
"We need to ask what we want the All Blacks to be. Longer term, do we want them to be an iconic team?"
The NZRU has tried, so far in vain, to persuade its government to adopt a scheme used in Ireland which gives professional sportsmen and women massive tax rebates if they remain in the country. "I don't want to dramatise things but I'm not sure this country understands how big this issue is and how complex it is," said Smith.
"The players are being offered huge amounts of money to go overseas where they will be able to spend more time with their families and gain that overseas experience which is very different. We have to find strategies to help them do what they love. We are working on solutions and a lot of the feedback we have had has been really positive."
The flanker Jerry Collins is another player who is considering remaining in Europe after the All Blacks' grand slam tour in November. The likes of Luke McAlister, Carl Hayman, Chris Jack, Aaron Mauger and Byron Kelleher made the move after last year's World Cup.
The Harlequins coach Andy Friend will leave the club at the end of the season to join the Canberra-based Brumbies. Friend has been at Harlequins since the summer of 2005 after stints with the Japanese club Suntory and an advisory role with Australia during the 2002 Tri-Nations Series and 2003 World Cup.
Meanwhile, Brian Ashton will discover exactly what future - if any - he has as England's head coach when Rob Andrew fronts a specially-convened management board meeting at Twickenham today.
Andrew is expected to propose World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson as England's new hands-on team manager, an appointment which could undermine Ashton's position.
Ashton had been promised a manager of his own choosing - someone who would share the managerial and administrative burden but who would not get involved in rugby affairs. But that changed after the Six Nations Championship when senior officials at the Rugby Football Union grew concerned over England's inconsistent performances.
Andrew was given the green light to recruit Johnson, who is unlikely to accept the role unless he is granted full control over England affairs. But that would leave Ashton, who guided England to the World Cup final last autumn and their best Six Nations finish in five years, in limbo having lost his powers of selection and his authority.
