It’s got to have a nice slogan – like “Save Our Teams” – so how about Otago’s Got Ta Go! From the Super 14 that is.

All the kerfuffle about the NPC and the teams that should take the drop have raised, at least in my strange mind, a different question – why the hell do we continue to put up with the Highlanders in the Super comp?

If the NPC relegation was based on performance this year alone, there would be a fair degree of ants in the kilts in Dunedin given that Otago is currently 5th from the bottom just one point ahead of Manawatu who are odds on to go down.

While you could possibly argue that the performance of Southland (currently 4th equal but fifth on for and against) mitigates the lowly position of Otago, it’s a pathetic effort for the base of a Super franchise.

More importantly, Otago’s performances in the Super comp doesn’t stack up either:

• 2009 – 11th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2008 – 11th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2007 – 9th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2006 – 9th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2005 – 8th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2004 – 9th and second to last of the NZ franchises
• 2003 – 7th and second to last of the NZ franchises

Based on the last seven years, Otago’s lucky it’s not a racehorse – it it was, it would be canned and Fido’s favourite.

Like my flat earth friends at Save Our Teams, there will likely be someone crying but look at Otago’s past record.

Sadly, the past has nothing to do with the present when it comes to sports teams.  Much of Otago’s successes in the 1980’s and early 1990’s came from the imports who played out of Otago University.  With the development of professional rugby and academies, Otago’s lack of quality players is woefully exposed as the players don’t need to pretend they’re at university to play rugby full time.

It’s no surprise to see Hawke’s Bay for example prosper in the professional environment when for many years their best and brighest went away to play first division and super rugby and many of those to Otago.

Off the field, Otago doesn’t appear to have the commercial support either although the replacement of Carisbrook creates a bit of a moral dilemma.

However, if it came down to performance, then the Highlanders should go north.

But there’s a couple of points about the Super 14 I want to get off my chest.

First, the Highlanders.

The last couple of weeks you would have thought Jesus was playing on the wing the way the press was writing up the Southern Men.

Fair enough, they had beaten the Bulls but the reality always was that the Highlanders still had a tough road ahead of them with the South African trip still to come.

Getting dicked by the Blues certainly doesn’t help and you’d need a few Speights in you to think that the Highlanders have got a chance.

Frankly, I think it’s increasingly a travesty that Dunedin sitll has a Super 14 team.  Any justification for having a team in the deep South goes out the door when they need to play HOME games in Palmerston North.

As for player depth, without the draft there wouldn’t be a team.

The reality is that player strength and financial support is further north.  But don’t expect logic to enter into any discussions about moving the franchise north.

Just as the Aussies didn’t let logic get in the way of expaning the number of Aussie teams in the Super 14.

Sure, it makes it a more appealling with more home games and especially more local derbies.

I bagged the depth in Australian rugby earlier this year and even managed to get right up the nostrils of some Aussie.  I’d love to see him return!

At the time, I made the comment that the Aussies didn’t have depth to justify 4 team … and our Aussie mate rightly pointed out that the Tahs were in the top 2.

We’re now at the pointy end of the season and how things have changed.

Now not ONE Aussie team is in the top 5.  More importantly, the top Aussie team (the Tahs) has still to have its bye.

At the other end of the table, the Reds are second to last and only because the Cheetahs are so bad.

Not a great advertisement for expansion in Australia.

Mind you, the Highlanders aren’t a great advertisement for 5 teams in NZ either!

Not that Jimmy the Lad would need a beer fridge of course.

On top of all of that I’ve must have missed the announcement that January is the international month of the pisshead.  What with Jimmy and Jesse, it’s like Palmerston North on a Friday night before the jump in their blinged up Subarus and drive round and round and round the Square.

Somehow, this started out as a post about Jimmy the Lad.

At one stage last year, Jimmy was almost out on his ear – if he was playing baseball he would have definitely been out with three strikes.  And as we’ve already established, it’s pretty could out down there.

According to Stuff, our Jimmy is surprised to have been given the captaincy.

Not half.  (OK he is a half but you know what I mean!)

I have a couple of theories.

First, Glenn Moore (the coach of the Highlanders in case you didn’t already know) looked around the players and the only face he recognised was the Jimmy’s from the Wanted posters.

Or the alternative theory – the players were having a “team building session” and the last player standing was our Jimmy.

I can only assume that this was ok’ed by the Board.

On that basis, let’s hope it all works out cause the fall has now got even bigger and you can bet that the media will be on his case.

Just as long as the case isn’t filled with empties!