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The age of dominance is all but over for New Zealand rugby
If winning starts in the front office, it’s little wonder rugby in this country is facing some challenges.
The All Blacks are, well, the All Blacks. Brilliant one minute, dismal the next. Operating like a club team a lot of the time, where an exalted few appear as though they can play for as long as they like, immune to Father Time or the selector’s axe.
The Black Ferns seem a shadow of the team that won the last Rugby World Cup, our secondary schools’ team just got tipped over by Australia and now Taranaki coach Neil Barnes has teed off on New Zealand Rugby (NZR).
Rather than exalt at winning the Ranfurly Shield over the weekend, Barnes – in an interview on The Platform – highlighted the plight of the beaten Tasman side.
He said the scheduling of the NPC season was unfair and nonsensical and accused NZR of disregarding the unions and competition that breeds players for the top of the pyramid.
There’s rests aplenty for players at All Black level, Barnes said, but no such luxury for a team such as Tasman who played three NPC games in eight days, including two shield defences.
Little wonder, added Barnes, Tasman couldn’t contend with Taranaki on Sunday.
The so-called ‘storm’ weeks are nothing new, but it was out of character to hear a winning coach take a moment of triumph as an opportunity to criticise the governing body.
Said governing body seems – even by its standards – in a bit of disarray at the moment.
NZR chair Patsy Reddy has rightly confirmed she will not stand for re-election, having previously stated her position would be untenable should the governance structure she backed at a meeting of delegates in May be defeated.
The provinces spoke loudly back then too, voting against the proposal promoted by the NZR board and management.
Board positions, beyond Reddy’s, are now being advertised, as are any number of management, coaching and public relations roles at NZR.
Yes, if you ever wanted a job where one of the perks was tickets to matches, there’s plenty on offer at NZR at the moment.
I don’t know about you, but I look at the performances of our teams and the comings and goings at head office and I can’t help but think that the two are related.
People scoff when you blame NZR or the pathways that produce our players for the outcome of All Blacks matches, but you can’t tell me there’s no link..
Most of us are sports fans, beyond just our interest in rugby. We support teams in other codes, across various countries and have our opinions about how those franchises are run.
Invariably, the good organisations are also the ones that enjoy success on the field of play. The poorer ones lurch from crisis to crisis and upheaval to upheaval, often in the hope that the next person through the revolving door might have all the answers.
Reviews, reports, they’re all commissioned but rarely acted upon. Coaches and staff come and go, yet the outcomes rarely change.
Bad clubs and governing bodies are so deep in the mire they can’t see that they’re a big part of the problem.
I don’t say this to absolve the All Blacks and Black Ferns – or any other team under NZR’s auspices – of blame. I say it because it’s clearly a contributing factor and one we can no longer ignore.
Governance isn’t sexy. It’s not interesting to read about, it garners no Instagram followers nor bums on seats, but it’s critical to the success of teams.
Should the All Blacks become more competitive over the next few years, I suspect it’ll be in spite of the people in charge.
Just as I doubt we’ll see a return to the dominance the team previously enjoyed until there’s a recognition of where many of the issues stem from.
NZR is not in rude health, therefore the majority of our national teams and competitions aren’t either.
Genuine leadership is required now and, judging by May’s botched governance vote and Barnes’ pointed comments, it’s galling to think that leadership’s more likely to come from the provinces than NZR itself.
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New Zealand’s rugby problem is that for generations, the entertainment and sporting opportunities were extremely limited, and rugby was the biggest cultural touchstone for the
entire country.
Well, things are different now; there are endless other options for people.
There is access to every other sport on the planet at all times sitting in my pocket.
For the last two decades, NZR have carried on like rugby will always be the biggest love of the NZ public, rather than recognising they need to keep innovating to keep it relevant.
They are marketing and selling it like it’s culturally 1956.
It needs to become part of our communities culture if we are going to be any good at it.
Club rugby and NPC need to connect with people again.
I’m not all pessimistic about this. NPC games need to be at our clubs not stadiums, we need bouncy castles and games for the kids, it needs to be an event.
People won’t just show up out of provincial pride.
For club rugby, how are these games not packed out? It’s free, you can byo beers, it’s in the afternoon.
We just need someone with a bit of basic marketing nous and to promote it.
The provinces are going to have to come to the party, or the slow rot will just keep going.
(I would love Hamish’s thoughts on this but I’ve probably talked way too much guff about him to get a reply).
Very good article by Hamish. I am glad Reddy has gone the mantra of her Robinson and others that the NPC is "not fit for purpose" is ridiculous. Look at this years competition , best in decades and look at the match ups in this weekends Quarters. They were wanting to take that away, replace with what ? A void. AB's and Super players come from some where and the AB's as this article rightly states have struggled now for the best part of 7 years and that is with the current player pool. Just on this weekends games, great to see 14 AB's released. As a Canterbury fan, particularly pleased to see scrum maestro Fletcher Newell playing , a long with as expected Bell and Darry.
More kids in NZ play soccer. More kids in NZ play basketball. NZR ignores these facts and blindly carries on as if it does not have an effect. Rugby is a dying game in NZ because of poor management, dumb and stupid rules, poor officiating. The game has been slowed down. The game at the top (with all of its player interchanges and other stoppages) is not the same game played at lower levels. Too play it you need to be a gym bunny or a giant.
In short the game in NZ has lost touch with its audience. One of the classic encounters (Auckland v Canterbury) was played in a virtually empty Eden Park this year. Nobody cares, and why would they with this rubbish?
I watched the ak v can game and some of the rugby played was utterly embarrassingly bad.
The rest of the comp has been top shelf though. Loads of attacking positive footy.
I love the club game. No TMO!
I've been watching rugby for more than 50 years. It's very simple.
Everything changes. Sooner or later,( now it's sooner) the All Blacks dominance is going to dive. After all when your at the top for so long, the only way is down.
Strictly speaking,there is no why. There just is. So to see the likes of Ireland, Eng, Argentina even Italy and Japan beginning to rise,is good for the game as a spectacle.
I've noticed how the URC draws bigger crowds the Super Rugby..but that demise has been coming for a while.So whoever is playing, the standards have risen and that can only be good for the sport as a whole.
From my perspective as a South African, I'd find it profoundly sad if you're right. Nobody in this country views the ABs with anything but the greatest respect and nothing motivates and excites us more than the prospect of a test match against NZ.
Oh dear! And we were promised innovation, change and 7 exciting years of winning just by changing the head coach.
It’s still all fozzies fault bro. (Somehow.)
Each time I see a headline like this it leads me to thinking that quite a few people are going to be surprised by the results on this All Blacks tour. Take some names and watch this space....
Personally am beginning to wonder what this author ? is suffering from , click bait material on this site and his same vein on the Roar is pathetic , reach deep down and see if there is anything there , maybe they’ve dropped off altogether
Biggest mistake was SA leaving/kicked out of super rugby. One team dominating rugby like Richie did was not great for the sport.
Feels like there is no domiant team at the moment. Which is great for the game. To watch games go down to the last mins is great. Anyone can be beaten and the result is not a given
I can understand why we left the Super rugby comp, but there is nevertheless a lingering sense of nostalgia and that it was a shame.....at least as far as the Super 12 was concerned. Its subsequent iterations are what killed it for us, following which travelling north became inevitable.
Take the ‘but’ out of the headline and you’ve nailed it!
Heard it all before in the past.
Not what I expected from the headline, but yeah, a pretty fair and realistic assessment.
Oh dear. Quick. Someone put this guy on safety-watch.
Hahahaha
The second I saw the headline I knew it was this turkey writing it. Geez he has some serious issues.
I think a lot of issues actually stem from the competitiveness of SRP. Last season, I would say there were only 4 good teams: Brisbane Reds, Auckland Blues, Hamilton Cheifs, and Wellington Hurricanes.
The Brumbies typically underformed, so they don't count. But for the Christchurch Crusaders to go missing last season due to injuries, player exodus, and new staff, the competition lacked a lot of the competitiveness that the Crusaders normally being with physicality and set-piece. Also, the Australian sides have been incredibly lacklustre these last few seasons. The Reds and Brumbies are the only teams who have been performing okay these last couple seasons.
Due to the lack of competitiveness (and lack of punishment for it), the players have slowly become more lazy, looking to extend their highlights reel instead of working on their fundamentals. There are, of course, still great talents finding their way through (Sititi & Ratima), but it is going from a competition which was brimming with physicality and different ways to play the game to something that isn't.
I think that NZR should try to set up their own version of the Champions League. Argentina, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand all form domestic leagues of at least 8-12 teams, and the first and second place teams advance to a QF stage of the Victor's Cup, and they pay off from there. The finals location will be selected by the Victor's Cup governing body, but it cannot be in the same nation two years in a row. Teams will play home or away depending on the points in their respective leauges. There can also be an equivalent to the Europa League for teams placed and third and fourth.
The teams in the domestic leagues should be sponsored by corporations, however in the players contracts there should be a clause that the All Blacks reserve the right to call up these players for test matches and tours.
The Champions League will be played as a postseason to the domestic leagues. so in each league there will be 14-22 matches during the league and at most 3 games in the postseason, so 17-25 game long seasons.
That is my vision, but I don't think any of the nations have the financial backing, guts, or vision to do something like this.
Super Rugby was actually originally the Champions Cup of the South. It was the top clubs from the domestic NZ, Australia, and SA competitions.