The drumbeat of young New Zealand talent heading north has grown louder again with confirmation that Hurricanes midfielder Riley Higgins is set to take up a contract in Scotland. The 23-year-old, who has Scottish ancestry, is in line to qualify for the Scotland national team without a three-year stand-down — and on the latest Develin Sports Podcast Network (DSPN) Rugby Round Table, the move sparked a familiar debate about how New Zealand rugby retains its emerging talent.
Higgins has been outside the All Blacks set-up while sitting behind a stacked Hurricanes midfield that includes the Barrett brothers and the new generation of Wellington centres. Despite flashes in Super Rugby, his pathway to the black jersey has remained narrow.
DSPN host John "Hurt Locker" Day argued that the situation could not really be pinned on New Zealand rugby. "He's largely unproven in New Zealand. He's had a few games. He's got a lot of potential. He got injured. I don't know what New Zealand rugby is meant to do here." With Higgins' Scottish heritage offering an immediate route into Test rugby, Day suggested the trade-off had become impossible to argue against for the player.
Co-host Mark Watson took a slightly different angle. He pointed out that "Riley Higgins clearly doesn't want to be an All Black — to the, you know, desperate enough to be an All Black", and contrasted that with the mindset that has historically defined those who broke through. "If you want to be an All Black, you hang around, you do everything you can. You find a way, you shift franchises, you do what you've got to do."
Watson did, however, sympathise with the financial reality facing players in their early twenties. He said agents tended to push for the biggest deal because they took a cut, and rarely sat the player down to ask, "Have you thought about legacy when you're in your 50s? How do you want to be remembered?" He suggested Higgins might one day regret choosing Six Nations rugby over a couple of late All Blacks caps — but conceded that this is a calculation many young pros are now making.
Both panellists pointed to a familiar pattern: Sean Maitland, Johnny McNicholl and now Higgins all opting for the Northern Hemisphere after concluding that they would not break up the All Blacks back-line ahead of them. Watson noted that with Higgins likely behind multiple Test-capped centres in Wellington alone, the maths simply did not work.
The conversation quickly turned to a broader fix. Both Day and Watson said New Zealand should allow its players to move freely between Super Rugby franchises, and even consider an annual draft system. "I've always been a believer in that," Watson said. "I think it would be great for the competition... allow players to play across Super Rugby." Day went further, calling for a draft day where every franchise could pick from a public pool of available players, arguing it would be box-office and would force New Zealand teams to share their depth more evenly.
For now, though, Higgins becomes the latest case study in a system the panel believes is overdue an overhaul. With Daltton Papali'i and Hoskin Sotutu also moving on, the Blues and Hurricanes' next-tier talent looks increasingly portable — and the Six Nations, not the All Blacks, increasingly looks like the most realistic stage for many of New Zealand's nearly-men.
