NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Rugby / All Blacks

All Blacks: Hero to zero in just a season

Dylan Cleaver
By Dylan Cleaver
Sports Editor at Large·NZ Herald·
13 Aug, 2010 05:30 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Isaac Ross has to work on his list of 'work-ons' to regain an All Blacks jersey, say observers. Photo / Getty Images

Isaac Ross has to work on his list of 'work-ons' to regain an All Blacks jersey, say observers. Photo / Getty Images

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He doesn't work hard enough, he doesn't push in scrums, he spends too much time in the backs, he has tickets on himself.

Isaac Ross' decline has been as perplexing as it was precipitous, but one of the coaches who snubbed him this year believes he is returning to his
best form.

Jamie Joseph, who was one of a string of coaches who seemed immune to Ross' charms earlier this year while in charge of the Maori squad, says the 25-year-old's national provincial championship form indicates the All Blacks selectors' messages are getting through.

While Ross shaped as the classic "the faster you rise, the steeper you fall" case study, it seems there is no smoking gun behind his demotion - just a bunch of "work-ons" that have yet to be worked on and a coaching fraternity that had begun to wonder whether the player really gets what top-level rugby is all about.

"It's sort of just the thought of one person and now everyone thinks my s*** stinks, basically," Ross said in the lead-up to the ITM Cup campaign with Canterbury.

According to the same report, he was even considering his future in the game after "everyone turned their back on me".

If that sounds churlish and immature, it was borne out of frustration, according to a Canterbury insider who said Ross at that stage was sick of talking about falling stock. Still, it wasn't well received by those who count.

"Isaac knows clearly what he has to do," lamented All Blacks forwards coach Steve Hansen recently. "I think everyone that has watched Isaac play knows what Isaac has got to do. And Isaac really needs to understand that the only person that can fix Isaac's problems is Isaac."

According to leading sports psychologist Dave Hadfield, it comes down to one fairly simple "change model" and another inescapable truth: the selector is always right.

Hadfield said he had no inside knowledge of what was happening around Ross, but referred to a model known as ADKAR - awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and resources.

"If you're being told you need to change, the first thing you need is the awareness that you need to change. If you don't agree with that, you're never going to change," Hadfield said. "The desire to change, the knowledge, ability and resources to The rise and fall of Isaac Ross: once-touted lock holds key to his future

effect that change become irrelevant if you're stuck on awareness.

"At the end of the day the selectors are always right. In this case, if you want to play for that team, Hansen is God. You've got two choices: you say, 'Yes, he's got a point', or you fight it, you disagree with them."

Turn the clock back a year and the script was playing out differently.

Ross was seen as the future of locking: rangy, agile, with a skill-set most five-eighths would envy. The Crusader was on a fast track to fame.

In June last year he made his debut against France at Dunedin.While that match ended in ignominy, Ross' reputation was enhanced.

The graph seemed to keep charting upwards, even though the All Blacks were having a difficult Tri-Nations campaign that reached its nadir with a 32-29 loss to the Springboks in Hamilton.

This was to be Ross' last test of the year and, unless he can engineer a reversal of fortune as quickly as the last one, it is not beyond the realms of possibility it could end up being the eighth and last of his career.

"We just think he has played a lot of football. He is probably mentally being stretched continually every week and, as I said, we are delighted with him and he is a lot further on than I thought he would be," said Graham Henry at the time of his exclusion from the final Tri-Nations' test of 2009 - a 33-6 victory over Australia at the Cake Tin.

So when people look for answers to what happened to Ross, they would be just as well served to look what happened during that test.

Tom Donnelly and Brad Thorn were paired together in the second row and the panel liked what they saw.

By comparison, Ross' game looked loose and luxurious. Grunt and graft became de rigueur.

So Ross joined a long list of those tried in the second row under Henry's reign. Since he took over in 2004 only Thorn, Ali Williams, Chris Jack and possibly Donnelly can claim to have taken a firm grip of jersey numbers 4 and 5.

Ross has joined an inclusive club comprising Greg Rawlinson, Troy Flavell, James Ryan, Simon Maling, Angus Macdonald, Kevin O'Neill, Jason Eaton, Anthony Boric, Sam Whitelock, Bryn Evans, Keith Robinson, Ross Filipo, Norm Maxwell, Jono Gibbes and Reuben Thorne.

What makes Ross different is that (a) no one saw it coming and (b) it didn't stop at the All Blacks.

Todd Blackadder dropped him from the Crusaders and then Joseph could not find a place for him in his starting XV for the Maori centenary tests against Ireland and England.

There were mitigating factors, said Joseph.

"He was underdone because he'd been basically playing club rugby for the past seven weeks," Joseph said of his decision to prefer Highlander Hayden Triggs and converted blindside flanker Jarrad Hoeata.

Joseph also spotted something else, though. Behind the self-assured facade, there was a player who had lost confidence.

"You wouldn't sit down with him for a cup of tea and a biscuit and say he lacked confidence. But he lacked what I would define as rugby confidence.

"The basis of that was being discarded from the All Blacks, then discarded from the Crusaders with similar feedback."

While Joseph left Ross out of his side, he has few doubts that Ross will eventually make it back.

"The thing with Zac is that he has a set of skills that not many other locks have, as you saw last week against Manawatu.

"From a forwards' perspective, he was the biggest reason Canterbury came back to win that game, so he's starting to get back to his best form."

Whether that's enough to earn an international recall is a moot point.

"The lock position has changed," Joseph said, noting that Ross' lineout understanding and athleticism remained impressive.

"That's just part of the set-piece, the other part is scrummaging. Clearly at international level you need guys with the power to try to control teams - that's an area he's been told he needs to work on."

Joseph is winging his way to Dunedin to helm the struggling Highlanders. To ask a loaded question: would he look forward to working with Ross if the player decided he needed to move from the Crusaders to get more game time?

"I tell you this, if Isaac Ross continues to play like he did against Manawatu, and recaptures the form of last year, he'll be selected for the Crusaders, not the Highlanders," Joseph said, before signing off with what is now becoming a familiar refrain. "It's really all up to him."

Discover more

All Blacks

All Blacks: Cowan given all clear

12 Aug 02:46 AM
All Blacks

All Blacks: Henry will test rookies - but only after Soweto

13 Aug 05:30 PM
Rugby World Cup

All Blacks: Frequent peaks between World Cups

13 Aug 05:30 PM
Manufacturing

All Blacks gear made in China

13 Aug 05:30 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from All Blacks

All Blacks

Discussing the likely All Blacks team to play France in Dunedin

All Blacks

'The Lord's team': Savea hopes Moana Pasifika survives financial struggles

01 Jul 02:45 AM
All BlacksUpdated

French injury worries mount ahead of first test

30 Jun 08:35 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from All Blacks

Discussing the likely All Blacks team to play France in Dunedin

Discussing the likely All Blacks team to play France in Dunedin

Liam Napier and Elliott Smith break down the likely All Blacks team to play France in Dunedin this weekend.

'The Lord's team': Savea hopes Moana Pasifika survives financial struggles

'The Lord's team': Savea hopes Moana Pasifika survives financial struggles

01 Jul 02:45 AM
French injury worries mount ahead of first test

French injury worries mount ahead of first test

30 Jun 08:35 PM
Premium
Why rugby fans can expect a deluge of cards: Gregor Paul

Why rugby fans can expect a deluge of cards: Gregor Paul

30 Jun 08:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP