A dejected Beauden Barrett after the All Blacks' loss to Ireland in the third test. Photo / Photosport
A dejected Beauden Barrett after the All Blacks' loss to Ireland in the third test. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
New Zealand rugby hasn't been this divided since 2002, when the chairman, the chief executive and the entire board of the New Zealand Rugby Union had to resign.
If the All Blacks lose in South Africa, and the Wallabies then take the Bledisloe Cup from us, the pressure onthe men and women running NZ Rugby will reach the feverish levels of '02, when losing the co-hosting rights to the 2003 World Cup sparked a furious backlash.
Evidence of rifts now had been mounting, and one of our greatest All Black coaches, Sir Steve Hansen, provided an explosive summing up when he said this week the relationship between the NZ Rugby board and the players was "the worst its ever been".
The current crisis feels like a series of self-inflicted wounds.
One. The strange form of the selection of a new coach after the 2019 World Cup.
When Graham Henry was retained as All Black coach after the 2007 Cup, and Wayne Smith was axed in 2001 the final decision was made by the NZRU board. In 2019 it was made by a five person selection panel, with just one rugby coach on it.
Two. The "greedy All Blacks" reaction to the Silver Lake deal.
In May last year then NZR chairman Brent Impey reacted angrily to suggestions from our players' association that the Silver Lake deal needed changing. In a fiery outburst Impey implied that the All Blacks were so greedy the extra cash they, and the rest of our professional players, wanted from Silver Lake would mean there would not "be enough money [left] to spend on community rugby".
Our greatest All Black captain, Richie McCaw, was very measured when we later discussed the money issues raised by Impey, but he made his feelings very clear. "One of our strengths of rugby in New Zealand is that we've had a really united way of doing things, which has actually been unique in the world. It does nobody any good to not have that partnership (between the board and the players), which was special, working."
Three. The "unacceptable" statement.
New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson. Photo / Photosport
When Mark Robinson, the CEO of New Zealand Rugby, said Ian Foster had been told the loss in the series with Ireland was "not acceptable" it meant New Zealand Rugby was, as Hansen pointed out, airing "all their dirty washing in the front part of the property rather than out the back". There's never been a formal public caning for an All Black coach from his own organisation before. There were muttered off the record conversations with NZRU officials in Sydney about how they planned to sack John Mitchell after the 2003 World Cup All Blacks exit. But public criticism of a coach who was staying on? A weird first.
Four. The NZR leaked internal memo about making no comment on Hansen's criticism.
It may well be the best tactic, because it'd be hard to find anyone at NZR with the gravitas to convincingly refute what a man involved in winning two World Cups has had to say. Staying silent was described, I think correctly, by NZR communications head Charlotte McLaughlin as "the 'least-worst' option because it offers no fuel". So a sensible media move. But a broader, bigger problem remains. The last words on the current state of our rugby remained with Hansen, and they're damning.
Since Hansen's comments were made, Robinson has addressed the situation. The NZR boss spoke to Newstalk ZB's Jason Pine, addressing Hansen's comments and the recent All Blacks situation.
Five. Is this the right time to leave the office? Robinson is in Birmingham. A visit by him to the Commonwealth Games was no doubt arranged long ago. But in the current firestorm, images of Robinson at his desk in Wellington, or gravely supervising in South Africa, are going to play infinitely better with rugby fans than television clips of him cheering on our two sevens teams.
Six. Who's actually running the show? If ever there was a time for an emergency meeting of the NZR board it's now. They are, after all, the only people in positions of authority who were appointed by the provincial rugby unions, who ultimately speak for the grassroots of the game.
As Abraham Lincoln said in 1858, paraphrasing the Bible, "A house divided against itself cannot stand". In 2022 Lincoln's words should serve as a highly relevant warning for New Zealand rugby.
