Different cultures, different rugby
Culture can be used to get the best out of rugby players, say researchers who compared the Māori All Blacks with the Japanese national rugby team.
Cultural identity affects how teams work together and their style of play, say former Black Ferns captain Dr Farah Palmer and sport science lecturer Dr Yusuke Kuroda, both from Massey University.
Players for the Māori All Blacks must have Māori heritage, whereas the Japanese national rugby team had eight foreign-born players out of 31, when they were surveyed in 2014, Kuroda said.
‘‘Players were from New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, but Japan does not allow dual citizenship, so these players forfeited their citizenship to other countries. They showed strong, positive feeling toward Japanese culture, even though their level of cultural identity was lower than the Japanese-born players.’’
They found strongly different characteristics in the individual perspectives of each team, and the collective team cultures.
‘‘The Māori All Blacks players had more positive feelings toward their own culture and stronger feelings about maintaining the culture than players from the Japanese national team’’ ... and ‘‘display a more playful and spontaneous team personality,’’ Kuroda said.
They also valued ‘‘flair, spontaneity and high-risk rugby for the collective good’’.
‘‘The Japanese national team express a more serious-minded and goal-oriented personality ... even though externally the Japan national team seems more culturally diverse, the team values unity, structure and conformity, reflecting the dominant values in Japanese culture.’’
The researchers said the findings showed insight for strengthening teams, but went beyond that. ‘‘In this increasingly global and culturally diverse world, understanding the motivational personality and cultural profile of any group may help determine ways to enhance the working environment and psychological wellbeing of the people in that group,’’ Kuroda said.
Palmer, also a New Zealand Rugby board member, said she could see the effects of different cultural strengths on the field.
‘‘The Māori All Blacks won the second test [in 2014] against the Japanese team in Tokyo by throwing the ball quickly before a lineout had formed, and through some risky or 50-50 passes.
‘‘The Japanese team dominated through their set pieces like scrums where they worked as a clinical unit.’’
Māori culture is celebrated within the team’s operations. ‘‘The team are connected through their whakapapa as Māori, and through their love of rugby, which means the team quickly bonds and there is almost an unspoken connection that means there are moments of pure genius or high-risk moves.’’