Legendary All Black and ex-captain Ian Kirkpatrick has talked of his ever-growing concerns for the direction rugby has gone in, and why more people think it is a "rubbish game". Photo / Neil Reid
As the blood-letting continues over the All Blacks' failure against Ireland, legendary captain and New Zealand Rugby patron Ian Kirkpatrick has spoken of why an ever-growing number of fans are turning their back on a "rubbish game".
In a brutally frank interview, one of the most respected men to captain the All Blacks has opened up about where the sport that he loves so much, the national team and administrators are going badly wrong.
And in a week where New Zealand Rugby (NZR) top-brass have been rocked by the fall-out after the historic test series loss to Ireland, Kirkpatrick says administrators have to "get real" about the state of the game which is turning off both younger players and fans alike.
"You get around your friends, and the age-group doesn't matter, and ask guys if they watch Super Rugby anymore and they're not watching," Kirkpatrick told the Herald. "That worries me to hell.
"People think it's a rubbish game.
"The stats will back that up, that there is not the people watching it like they used to. And you say why? Why? It is because the product is no good."
Kirkpatrick played 74 matches for the All Blacks between 1967-77, including 39 tests. He captained the team 43 times.
When asked if he shared the view that the professional rugby product was now rubbish, he replied: "I don't like it so much now, no. You can almost tell what you are going to get.
"I don't really like the way the game is being played at the moment for that reason. And that is why people aren't watching it.
"It is quite sad really."
Kirkpatrick stressed he didn't want to be too negative, but he also said it was impossible not to call out factors which in his opinion had become a blight on the game.
He said rugby was now dominated too much by defence.
"If you can somehow slip a tackle or slip a really good kick behind the defensive line, you will be bloody lucky," he said.
"Our players have got to have that path where they know they can get through without having to be beaten up."
The nature of rugby seen at provincial, Super Rugby and international level had now seeped into school and age-grade rugby, Kirkpatrick said.
If you were a back, it meant you were increasingly having to become a battering ram to try to get through defensive lines clogged by sizeable forwards.
He described that part of the game as "not pretty".
"These guys have nowhere to go. And the big boys in the middle . . . . they put their heads down and hope their heads go in the right places. We hear enough about head knocks, we see them enough, but we probably only hear about half of what goes on.
"The ball carriers . . . they put their bodies on the line and I think, 'Why the hell does the game have to be like that for?'."
That physicality was becoming a turn-off for smaller players who did not want to get bashed around, and also parents who did not want their children – including those in their teens – to be exposed to big hits at an age when their bodies and brains were still developing.
"The physicality of the game has been a bit of a put-off for a lot of players. A lot of mothers don't want their kids to play," Kirkpatrick said.
"[It] is the worry . . . we have to embrace that administration-wise and get real to the fact that we are losing a lot of players from the age of 12 to 18 from our game because they don't see any future in maturing late."
Between the years 2000 and 2020 there was a startling 20 per cent drop in school-aged player numbers.
As well as in increase in other sports available, Kirkpatrick said the leading factor was the "harsh reality" of the physicality that was now required from a younger age.
And many weren't just stepping away from rugby until their bodies developed further, instead were turning their backs on the game for good.
"If you are not physical enough you aren't going to make it, especially if you are a forward," Kirkpatrick said.
"Even in the backs now, the requirement now is size and bulk to get over the advantage line."
The consequences of the exodus would rob New Zealand of some players who could have developed into class players later in their career.
"We are probably losing some of our great players that we have had at a later age, those who have matured a bit later," he rued.
Kirkpatrick said he watches "heaps" of top-level rugby.
But he said too often what he was witnessing was "just not footy".
"I want to find something about the game that is going to make it better.
"But at the moment I can't see it because of . . . . how the game is played. And it is backed up by everyone that you talk to is sick of the driving mauls from lineouts 5m from the line, and this sort of thing.
"All our good players, the likes of our Christian Cullens and co, they would have nowhere to go if they were still around. It doesn't encourage the smaller, naturally gifted players because there is simply nowhere for them to go.
"And if they happen not to get their heads knocked off, they'll be bloody lucky. "
Kirkpatrick's concerns about the direction rugby had headed previously saw him join a group of well-known ex-All Blacks – including several ex-captains – who tried to lobby NZR to make significant changes.
Convened by businessman Douglas Catley, the group included Andy Leslie, Stu Wilson, Alex Wyllie, Allan Hewson, Dave Loveridge and Mark Shaw.
Kirkpatrick – who was so concerned he went on the panel even though he held a prestigious position within NZR - described Catley as "an avid rugby follower" who "was worried about where the game was going".
"I couldn't care a stuff about being patron, my own gut feel was that the game was going in the wrong direction. That is why I was part of it," Kirkpatrick said.
The panel raised their concerns and also offered what they believed were solutions to rugby officials including NZR chief executive Mark Robinson and chairman Stewart Mitchell.
Frustratingly, Kirkpatrick said "nothing" had been done.
"I am stuffed if I know," he said.
Kirkpatrick spoke to the Herald prior to the three-test series against Ireland; which saw the tourists win in historic fashion 2-1.
The All Blacks legend had said: "I don't like our chances for the World Cup. I don't like our chances for Ireland".
Kirkpatrick's greatest concern around the All Blacks' fortunes in the lead-up to, and at, next year's Rugby World Cup revolved around ageing players and the lesser abilities of those who might replace them.
"I just don't think that we have the players coming up that we used to have that would be pushing most positions. Our locks are getting older, our hookers are getting older, our halfback's getting older.
"There is a lot of space between those guys and who are going to take their place . . . that's a worry."
Kirkpatrick's gripes and concerns about the modern game aren't coming from someone who dearly wants to hold on to the amateur era they played in.
He watches as much rugby as he can – including always tuning in for Hurricanes games; the franchise he served as a mentor for five seasons.
One of the few regrets of his own playing career is that it did not correspond with the early years of professional rugby; a time when he loved that style of rugby and wished he could have had a chance to play himself.
"It was outstanding rugby the way it was played, before league coaches came on to the scene and put in all these defensive ideas," Kirkpatrick said.
"It was great up until the early years of the 2000s, then the game started to get more like it is now . . . confrontational, close marking and no space."
The 31-year-old will take up a second sabbatical in his NZ Rugby contract.