Interesting International Rugby Editorial
New Zealand rugby’s system puts the national team first, writes former All Blacks coach JOHN MITCHELL.
In New Zealand rugby, a centralised model ensures everything is geared towards helping the All Blacks achieve success and ensuring that talented players come through the system.
What key mechanics set the NZRU apart from Saru?
– The NZRU accepts what the IRB stands for, the congested fixture list and the laws, and gets on with being creative within its own system.
– In New Zealand, the hierarchical structures were dispensed with almost 14 years ago. Each Super Rugby franchise now consists of boards made up of administrators and independent business people who are voted in every two years.
– The NZRU separated NPC (provincial) and Super Rugby (franchise) administrations.
– The NZRU budgets for each department are self-sufficient with protocols that allow the heads of each department to be creative and have scope to operate within.
– The high-performance department funds, supports and resources all high-performance teams’ strategy and plans.
– The New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association agrees on a players’ collective that supports the current generation and provides a platform for the future.
– The NZRU looks after the All Blacks players’ wellbeing by providing them with intermittent blocks of work to help them improve and sabbaticals (on a case-by-case basis) which allow them to get away from the game and freshen up. The NZRU also creates strength and conditioning windows for the All Blacks in Super Rugby.
– During Super Rugby, the All Blacks’ specialist coaches check in on their players’ wellbeing and conditioning, focus on their individual skills and decision-making and raise their self-awareness in terms of what is expected of them.
– The NZRU, high-performance department and All Blacks work together when it comes to succession planning and regenerating the team towards its best 23.
– In the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks selected 28 players based on exceptional versatility, and only increased their squad number through injuries and the need to manage players. Each squad is selected on the current situation and not a budget-based number.
– When selecting a 32-man end-of-year tour squad, the All Blacks take several things into account, including who the best players are, the players’ wellbeing, and the team’s development and regeneration heading towards the next World Cup. This is done in collaboration with the high-performance department.
– The NZRU has an apprentice scheme that allows someone like young flank Ardie Savea to go on tour with the All Blacks to Europe. There is also a developing hookers group that works in tandem with the All Blacks to accelerate their development.
– All Blacks staff and coaches attend New Zealand U20 camps and trials to assist with ranking and positional succession planning.
– Test week for the All Blacks is all about the right preparation to get the right performance. This involves things like the recovery and regeneration of the body (so there’s a full fuel tank), qualitative feedback on performance, game specifics on the what and how, and opportunities to exploit in the game.
– The rugby syllabuses at community, schools and junior levels are categorised and tailored to the individual age group. A ‘weight for age’ is still applied, with the NZRU constantly telling mums that rugby is safe for their young boys to play.
– The theory is that rugby plays a vital role in New Zealand communities and is the fabric that binds everyone together, so the NZRU cannot afford for the All Blacks to create a disconnect. The NZRU is very creative in this area and mindful of how communities struggle to keep their rugby going.
– The All Blacks team manager plays a vital supporting role in terms of brand linkages, logistics, standards and discipline, which enables the coach to focus on mentorship, building structures, giving ownership to the players, and exciting them for each contest. NZRU policy, team protocols and the consequences of not meeting them are aligned.
– The NZRU’s commercial department is focused on high performance and the synergy between the three As – All Blacks, adidas and AIG – is huge. The NZRU deserves credit for fostering its long relationship with adidas and having the foresight to bring AIG on board. By doing so, the All Blacks and all the other NZRU high-performance teams have enough funding to run their programmes.
Imagine what the Springboks could achieve if South African rugby had the above system?
It also makes you appreciate what a good job Heyneke Meyer has done in the hit-and-miss system that he has to operate within.
Courtesy: Gauteng, WP/Stormers Supporters Club.