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Ex-All Black's warning over the 'alarm bells' going off in New Zealand Rugby
By Ben Smith
Departed All Black Brad Weber has opened up and shared his view of the state of New Zealand Rugby after taking up a deal in France.
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A stalwart of New Zealand Rugby for over a decade representing Otago, Waikato and Hawkes Bay at provincial level, the Chiefs in Super Rugby and the All Blacks, Weber announced his decision to sign with Stade Francias in the Top 14 in May this year, leaving New Zealand shores for the first time during his career.
Speaking to Newshub from Paris at his new club’s “impressive” facilities, the veteran halfback couldn’t believe how well the players were treated in France.
“It’s impressive,” he said from Stade’s facilities, “Everything you could ask for, you get.
“You get your stuff washed for you, there’s breakfast and lunch every day.
“These guys don’t know how good they’ve got it. It’s unreal.”
The 18-Test All Black is now able to look at the game with an experienced eye having been involved in New Zealand Rugby over a decade of unprecedented success and now unprecedented challenges.
As a member of the famous New Zealand U20 side from 2011, Weber has seen the popularity of the game change of his career.
The veteran halfback believed that Super Rugby had no option but to make changes and said that ‘alarm bell’s were ringing in New Zealand.
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“I’m not paid well enough to figure out ways to make it better and I guess I’d like to move into something like that maybe one day,” he said.
“Super Rugby’s certainly going to have to improve and make some sort of changes.
“At the grassroots level, people are dropping out, so around club level, there’s not as much participation and hearing from some mates in club rugby, that’s certainly the case. I guess we’ve got to find a way to keep guys in rugby.
“It’s obviously not great. Our [under] 20s team hasn’t performed well the last few years, so that’s maybe alarm bells a little bit as well.
“I mean, we certainly need to address something, because it’s obviously declined and we don’t want it to decline any more.”
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Weber was in Ian Foster’s All Black squad in 2021 but found himself axed ahead of the Ireland series in 2022, instead representing the Maori All Blacks along with TJ Perenara.
The No 9 managed a recall for one Test in 2022 against Wales but was left out of Rugby World Cup squad for 2023 with upstart Cam Roigard and Blues halfback Finlay Christie preferred.
The halfback doesn’t hold any grudges and despite the challenges the game is facing still believed that the people in charge can make the required changes.
“I’d never bet against the All Blacks and NZ Rugby. We certainly always try to find a way,” he said.
“We might be in a tough spot at the moment, but I just still back the people that we’ve got. I still think we’ve got the right people that can turn it around.”
It's the ref's fault. And the cheating Bokke who can't play rugby.
Webber without saying anything radical should be listened to.
NZRU has lost its way, that’s pretty clear. They made a mistake with the Fozzie appointment, they made a mistake kicking SARU out of supper rugby and they have failed to address the needed changes to ensure the ABs flourish.
While, I love NZ schools, club, provincial and super rugby (would like SA back - but no chance now) the fact is if the ABs fold as they did under Fozzie, the knock on effect goes right through the country.
So we need a bottom up and top down system to flourish. Without a successful ABs there is not the money and motivation for school boys to choose rugby - without schoolboys choosing rugby we end up with a weak U20 group (we havent won since 2017), and that leads in the longer term to a weak ABs
All I can say it is about the coach at the end of the day. Springboks had a very bad run after 1995 when Kitch Christie passed away. We had coaches like Straeuli and his boot camps, Piet du Villers and Alister Coetzee our worst 2 coaches ever. We never kept Jake Whight and never kept Nick Mullet and we should of they were good we won a world cup under Whight and our most Trie Nation wins under Nick Mullet and we let them go. Now finally we have success with Rassie because we decided to keep him, we might even win the next world cup 3 times in a row.
The all blacks were great under Steve Hanson all their records broken and winning streaks were under Steve because they made the correct decision to keep Steve and not like the Boks did for years jumping around with coaches and not keeping the good ones.
All blacks made a mistake with Ian Foster and they just going through a dip now soon they will find their feet with the correct coaching team and be the All blacks of old.
Politics also plays a role.
“You get your stuff washed for you, there’s breakfast and lunch every day.” classic quote
All Blacks have overestimated themselves for a while. They played 10 world cups to win 3.springboks played 8 and won 4.
30 Vs 50 Per cent.
had they won 2023 boks would still be ahead!!!😭
Brad Weber has always been the Chiefs moaner in chief. Noticed after any game in which they lost he interviewed very poorly like he has a chip on his shoulder. I bet he was super sour to miss the RWC but at least smart enough to hide it!
Yeah, “my mates told me” is solid evidence. lol. The official figures reported last week for season 2023 show community rugby participation rates increased by 7% & women’s & girls’ rugby up by 20%, compared to 2022.
I wonder if his mates were too polite to tell him that it’s Super Rugby that’s sucking the life out of the community level.