Great to see Craig Clarke make the Super 15 team of the season!

www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16021_8856079,00.html

Darragh507 wrote: I wonder can he bring Liam Messam with him?

That boy is something else. Probably my favourite back row player in recent years. Just a hard fucker!

Clarke will be mega good. Ever so excited. Hope the young guys climb up another level.

Did White come from the Chiefs originally also?

Ya, he moved from Chiefs to Leinster before he got some sense

I wonder can he bring Liam Messam with him?

That boy is something else. Probably my favourite back row player in recent years. Just a hard fucker!

Clarke will be mega good. Ever so excited. Hope the young guys climb up another level.

Did White come from the Chiefs originally also?

Great result for the Chiefs this morning. Having a current 2 time Super 15 winning captain coming to Connacht is the stuff of dreams really and couldn't be imagined even a few years back. His presence in the changing room alone when he arrives will justify whatever this signing is costing the branch.

www.nzherald.co.nz/super-15/news/article...31&objectid=10907509

Of all the players leaving the Chiefs, the one who has made the most impact has been Craig Clarke, a player who in Dave Rennie's opinion should have been an All Black last year.

(...) Clarke, though, has been an ever-present for the Chiefs, lending his considerable work ethic to the team's on-field efforts and an often laconic wit afterwards in front of the media.

Clarke, who turned 30 on Thursday, is heading to Irish club Connacht, where he will link with new head coach Pat Lam, formerly of the Blues. He will take with him his team's best wishes and his coach's hope that he just might return.

The lock and co-captain with Liam Messam epitomised the Chiefs' team-first ethic and will be hugely missed.

"He's a special character isn't he?," coach Rennie said. "When you're under pressure you need your experienced players to stand up and I thought he was sensational last week. I think New Zealand's missed a beat there, the fact that this guy is leaving. If he had had a chance of wearing the black jersey last year he may well have stayed. He's a big loss for us. He's a quality man, he has a massive influence on this group. He's demanding, he's made real shifts in his game. We'll miss him big time."

Clarke was on the fringe of the All Blacks last year. The national team's medical staff kept an eye on his knee - he played in last year's final despite the problem - which meant he was on Steve Hansen's radar, and there is no doubt he would have been an All Black this year ahead of Hurricane Jeremy Thrush if he wasn't leaving.

Clarke, also the captain of Taranaki, began his career at the Crusaders in 2006 before finding his way to the Chiefs via the Hurricanes. He has worn the black, red and yellow for five seasons, captaining the team for the past two alongside Messam.

Nick white won't sleep tonight. Two huge errors to let chiefs back In game. Jesse mogg had two bad kicks for touch also. Would have been great to see them hold on and create history but the reason that its never been done before became obvious from 15 out.
Still had to be won though so congrats to the chiefs.

Chiefs come from seven points down at HT to win by five.

Welcome to Connacht City double Super Rugby winning captain Clarke

Chiefs Chiefs Chiefs! Should be a savage game, both great teams.

tvnz.co.nz/rugby-news/craig-clarke-hopin...hday-present-5524634

Unlucky to miss out on a spot in the All Blacks squad for the upcoming Rugby Championship, Clarke is set to depart our shores for Ireland on August 13, where he will link up with former Blues coach Pat Lam's side Connacht

Getting more and more excited about seeing him in Galway

3 articles about Clarke, I quoted the lines about Connacht

www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/spor...d-on-magnificent-win

When Clarke walks through that departure gate for new club Connacht in a week or so, his only regret might be that he never got to pull on that cherished black jersey. He deserved to. There have been far more inferior locks who have had the privilege, but life is about getting lucky breaks and Clarke never got one.

Connacht, under the guidance of new coach Pat Lam, rightfully trumpeted Clarke's signature, saying they had "captured a major international signing" after the three-year deal was revealed.

Although he might feel the pinch of another exhausting Super Rugby campaign, Clarke will be a revelation for the Irish side.

www.allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=displ...t&utm_medium=twitter

Clarke departs for the Irish city of ConnachtOf course southern jounalist has never heard about Galway :lol: soon after the Super Rugby season. He admitted the adventure, and its predictable challenges, were exciting.

"I've obviously got to learn everybody's names - it's like going to school for the first day," Clarke said.

"Learning how they go about things and how you can slot into the system, finding places to live, places to drive around. The things you take for granted, the things that make up an adventure for that."

The future couldn't be further from his mind. With four days still until one of the biggest matches of his life – he described Saturday's home final against the Brumbies as 'something you play footy for' – there's no doubt any personal romance for New Zealand rugby is put aside.

www.thescore.ie/super-rugby-semis-craig-...cht-1008966-Jul2013/

New coach Pat Lam pulled off a transfer coup earlier in the year when he signed up second row Craig Clarke. The captain of the Chiefs and winner of the Super Rugby title in 2012 has been described by All Blacks legend as one of the four best locks in the country.

Hey fwiw I don't think Clarke is going to be called up. But Donald was signed with Bath and only a problem getting a work visa stopped him from leaving NZ early after being left out of the world cup squad. He obviously ended up being called up after Carter was injured but he was signed with Bath at that point but hadn't left.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/14240011

I'll give this one more go and then I'll leave it:

As of next weekend Craig Clarke is out of contract in NZ. He is not contracted for an ITM Cup side. He is contracted to Connacht, who are not a NZ based team. He is therefore not eligible for All Blacks selection.

ITM contracts run til end October (though in 2011 the competition was run off almost 2 months early due to the WC). Donald's contract with Bath therefore started in November making him available for the All Blacks (it's very common for NZ players to arrive to European clubs late, the Rene Ranger situation mentioned earlier in this thread is one example, our own Rodney another).

Don't take my word for it:

stats.allblacks.com/asp/Profile.asp?ABID=1075

"Donald joined English Club side Bath following Rugby World Cup 2011."

The rule is that an All Black must be resident in NZ and contracted to a NZ team. So if a player is contracted to a foreign team (as Clarke is from next weekend) he's out, and even if he's returned from a stint abroad, he has to have played a season of ITM or Super rugby first, except in special circumstances i.e. he is Dan Carter.

www.allblacks.com/news/241/Board-rules-on-eligibility

(This ruling basically stops players pulling the "I'll come home if you play me" one, but allows wriggle room for "sabbaticals" such as Carter's a few years ago. Note that McCaw's sabbatical was exactly that; he didn't play in Europe.)

Surely the precedent has already been set, Stephen Donald played in the world cup while having signed a contract to play with Bath?

I'm sorry if I'm missing something obvious but why would they need to buy out his contract? Would they not just ask him to extend his stay in NZ for a couple of months?

I get the point about AB precedent but if they suffer a couple more injuries at lock they are running out of options and technically he could still be in NZ at the time of being selected. I'm just suggesting there might be a very small chance it could happen.

I take it so that the standard of scrummaging in super15 is way below northern hemisphere standard given the lions superiority v those same players!

galway_gas wrote:

rossie wrote: 2 of the Aussie front row in this team. I don't see any super15 as I don't have sky so could someone explain this to me?!

Simply said Moore was best hooker of the 4 on display at the weekend. Good darts, great in loose. Best TH was between Alexander and Tameifuna. They picked Alexander.


All blacks putting together their training squad for upcoming Southern Hemisphere championship (17th August -October 5). Usually don't include non home-based players but ominously have included Montpelier bound Rene Ranger. No Chief players included until after super XV final. Only 3 second rows included so far. Sam Whitelock a definite IMO. Aly Williams has just retired from internationals and Martin Boric on way to Japan. Brodie Retallick likely to be added from Chiefs. Hopefully (for us) not Clarke as well.

The IMF wrote: Personally I don't think he will be called up but it's not as cut and dry as your making out salmson.

It was only weeks ago The NZ Herald was going with this sort of flag waving for Clarke to be called up for the France series

www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cf...=4&objectid=10887919

It's not like his recent performances since then haven't put him in an even stronger position.

Although they don't touch on the contractual situation with us, ultimately if the AB's ask him, do you think Connacht would be able to be anything else but flexible with him?

As you say yourself they're not going to ask him. They didn't pick him as "a seasoned campaigner who could plug the gap short-term" for the June internationals when, like Ranger now, he was still in contract.

If they did pick him, while contracted at a foreign team, it would be the death of the current All Blacks system: every man jack from the North Shore to Invercargill would be on a plane to Europe.

So your "not cut and dried" comes down to this: if they didn't buy out Ali William's or Rene Ranger's contracts, would they really buy out Clarke's?