WORLD LEADERS
THE ALL BLACKS HAVE NOT ONLY BECOME THE BIGGEST BRAND IN THE SPORT, THEY HAVE EARNED FAME IN PLACES WHERE RUGBY IS NOT PLAYED OR BARELY RECOGNISED. GREGOR PAUL TRIES TO EXPLAIN HOW THEY HAVE DONE THAT.
For more than 110 years the All Blacks have been the most dominant force in world rugby and earned the right to be considered the game’s premium brand.
Rugby, if everyone is honest, doesn’t quite have the sort of global presence or recognition it would like. New Zealand, tucked away in a far-off corner of the Pacific Ocean, isn’t necessarily a nation that many of the world’s seven billion people know much about.
But the All Blacks – the point where New Zealand meets rugby if you like – are a different story. They have recognition even in countries that know nothing about rugby. They are known by people who have little idea where or what New Zealand even is.
And as a result, the All Blacks have in essence become almost separated from both rugby and New Zealand. They exist in their own right as the embodiment of sporting excellence. They encompass many of rugby’s most virtuous qualities and yet aren’t always defined or viewed as a rugby team as such. They represent New Zealand, staunchly proud of their roots, and yet they aren’t always so easily put in the same box as the rest of the country.
The All Blacks have become their own thing. Be it a brand, a team, a legacy, an entity, a phenomenon – the definition doesn’t really matter. The name All Blacks means something – everything – in itself. There is no need really to try to define what the All Blacks are – everyone seems to kind of get it.
Everyone, be they New Zealanders or not, makes their own interpretation of what the team stands for; what they represent and the values they uphold. The same can’t be said for any other rugby team.
The British Lions would love to have the same unity of perception – over the years they may have toured with a common purpose, but they haven’t been able to play like that was the case.
It’s the same with the Springboks. They wear an iconic jersey yet, especially in recent times, they haven’t upheld the sort of values that established the legacy. Losing to Japan and Italy kills any sense of the Boks being relentless.
The All Blacks, by any measure, are different and to be as well known and widely revered as they are, is one of sport’s most enduring stories. The obvious question is how have they managed to win such widespread respect and admiration?
How have they managed to put themselves on the sporting map the way they have? The answer is relatively simple; they have been consistently excellent on the field for almost 115 years.
They have managed to sustain their performance over a phenomenally long period. There have been years that have been better than others. There have been blips, short periods where they haven’t performed at their best or won games that they should. But they have only been short periods. They haven’t had prolonged slumps and in almost 115 years there hasn’t been an opponent that has walked off the field against them thinking the last 80 minutes had been a piece of cake.
The All Blacks, since they first played in 1903, have found a way, mostly, to win. Not always, but mostly, they have been able to hold themselves together for longer than their opponents. They have scrapped and battled to dig out a legacy that says they are winners. Relentless winners. They have found a way to perform at or close to their best almost every time they have played.
A bad year for the All Blacks would most likely be a good one for every other nation. In 2009 they were down on themselves for losing four tests. It felt disastrous and yet by the end of the season, their win ratio was still 75 per cent and they had, thanks to an unbeaten run in their last six tests, managed to take back the number one world ranking.
It says it all, really, that the All Blacks were dark about achieving a 75 per cent success rate when, in truth, every other team in world rugby sees that figure as a near unachievable goal.
None of their rivals have a record remotely close to theirs. The Boks have managed a win ratio of 65 per cent over roughly the same period but not as many tests. That’s a good record. It is not, however, one that screams out the way the All Blacks’ does. It is not one that has the rest of the world in awe or demands that coaches from other codes study them to get a sense of what they are all about.
Top teams in all codes are always looking for an edge – a point of difference – and many great sides have been drawn to the All Blacks. Of course they have. A team that has dominated the way they have; that has continually performed at such a high level for such a long time, must have some sort of secret.
In the same way that Apple became a guiding light for the most innovative and ambitious companies, so too have the All Blacks been a beacon of sorts for several other high profile sports teams.
In 2009 players from AC Milan dined with the All Blacks in Italy and the footballers left humbled and inspired by the sense of brotherhood they encountered. Plenty of other teams, coaches and players have studied and analysed the All Blacks in the hope of gleaning something they can adopt.
As a measure of how pervading the All Blacks are, they were name-checked in the build up to the 2017 Super Bowl. Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn revealed that he had long been an admirer of rugby and had become particularly interested in the All Blacks since he had read a book called Legacy.
“I’ve studied rugby from tackling and it’s been a driving influence on our leverage tackling, using our shoulder to tackle, keeping our head out,” Quinn said.
“So my interest for rugby was already there, and then when I found out more about their [All Blacks] culture, what they stood for, how they had long-term success for years and years. Someday, I will make that trip over there to see them compete and play. That’s how strongly I felt about just reading about them.
“So, I haven’t had any interaction with them up to now, but it was definitely a book that captured me.”
Some nations have been open about their desire to emulate the All Blacks, others haven’t. But most of the major rugby nations, whether they admit it or not, are constantly looking to borrow ideas from the All Blacks.
At times, depending on the coach, some nations have tried to almost wholesale adopt the All Blacks’ gameplan.
In the 1980s, Scotland coach Jim Telfer was almost obsessed with this idea that his pack should ruck the way the All Blacks did. He saw similarities in the size and shape of the athletes and had his players drop their body heights to the same low levels he saw New Zealand’s hit contact.
In the 1990s, most Northern Hemisphere teams began selecting smaller, genuine fetching opensides after they had seen what could be achieved by a player such as Josh Kronfeld. At the same time, many teams also started looking for giant wings, hoping that they could become as
So my interest for rugby was already there, and then when I found out more about their [All Blacks] culture, what they stood for, how they had long-term success for years and years. Someday, I will make the trip over there to see them compete and play.’ DAN QUINN
dangerous in attack as the All Blacks were with the mighty Jonah Lomu parked in the No 11 jersey. Imitation was the highest form of flattery.
No one, though, was more of an open admirer of the All Blacks than former England coach Stuart Lancaster. Appointed to the role after England’s horrible World Cup campaign of 2011, Lancaster came into the job with a firm view that his team’s progress could be fast-tracked if they thought and acted more like the All Blacks.
He spent time in New Zealand during his tenure trying to find the essence of what made the All Blacks different. He studied them almost religiously and tried to instil in his own side’s culture many of the same values.
He could see that there was something inherent within the All Blacks’ set-up that was missing in England’s. He never quite found what it was or, if he did, he was never able to successfully embed it but he never stopped admiring the All Blacks or believing they were the best source of inspiration for any rugby side.
Among his ideas were insisting that England no longer wear anything but their traditional white jersey when they played at home. Under the previous regime, the team had often worn an alternate red jersey purely to showcase it for commercial reasons.
He wanted to make his players feel a special bond with the jersey and understand that it was different to playing for their clubs, or England Sevens or Under 20s.
He hit on these ideas after spending a few weeks in New Zealand in 2013. “I met Sir Brian Lochore, an icon of New Zealand rugby, to understand more about the DNA of that team, that country,” Lancaster said.
“I went to a schools’ game and did a ‘coach the coaches’ evening. You are watching an Under 18 game and it is on their equivalent of Sky and there are 5,000 watching it. You can see why it is in their blood.
“It confirmed what I already thought. They have a very strong emphasis on culture and identity. The shirt means a huge amount to them. The identity of playing for New Zealand is a big driver. In world sport I would ask whether there is a better team – I am not sure there is,” Lancaster said.
“We are saying to our players we need them to be good in every component piece in their game, and have an X-factor in two. We have some players who have an X-factor in two but perhaps aren’t excellent in every area. The Kiwis have got players who are good in every area and have the X-factor as well.”
It’s an unusual scenario for one international team to so closely monitor the work of a rival. But that’s the power of the All Blacks; that is the grip they have on the game.
They have dominated for so long that their rivals can’t help but be curious as to what has been at the core of it. It’s an exaggeration to say the world of rugby is obsessed with the All Blacks but they are the team that every other spends most time analysing. Every international side will have fierce rivalries – but all of them covet a victory against the All Blacks.
No matter what kind of season a team may be having, it will all be smoothed over if they can beat the All Blacks. In 2012, England were going okay in Lancaster’s first year in charge and then, in early December, against the odds, they beat the All Blacks.
In the space of 80 minutes everything changed for England. From being a vaguely promising team heading, slowly, in the right direction, they were suddenly being talked about as potential winners of the 2015 World Cup.
After they had won at Twickenham, media began forecasting an All Blacks versus England final on the same ground three years down the track.
That’s the impact of beating the All Blacks – everyone knows it doesn’t happen by chance. The All Blacks can only be beaten by a team that knows what they are doing. No one ever gets lucky when they play New Zealand; victory only comes through hard work, commitment and deadly execution.
Look at Ireland. It took them 111 years to beat the All Blacks. Over the years they had near things. Many of them.
There was a test in Christchurch 2012 that they should have won but with 10 minutes left they lost their nerve and Dan Carter was able to drop a goal in the last minute. A year later and of course they went even closer – leading by five points with 40 seconds remaining. And somehow they lost – because the All Blacks, as only the All Blacks could have done, manufactured the most outrageous try.
So when Ireland did, finally, win a test in Chicago 2016, they were euphoric. It meant everything to the players – summed up nicely by captain Rory Best.
“It’s a massive thing for us and a massive mark of respect that we have for the All Blacks that it means so much to us because they are such a quality side and they have showed it this entire season,” he said.
“We have to enjoy that but also stay humble to show the respect that we have for the team we beat.”
There’s the global recognition, the incredible winning record and the peer admiration. All of these factors have established the All Blacks’ legacy.
But what provides the most compelling evidence of their standing is the amount of people who are willing to spend money on them.
It has been an age since the All Blacks didn’t sell all of their tickets for their home tests. Maybe some would consider that a low benchmark – a given they shouldn’t celebrate. But then look at Australia, the Wallabies don’t ever manage to do that. Nor do the Boks and it is probably only England who are strong candidates to sell all their home test tickets in any given year.
What separates the All Blacks is their ability to sell tickets wherever they go. Every Northern Hemisphere union loves hosting them in November. It makes a difference.
If the likes of Wales, Ireland and Scotland play the Wallabies or Boks, they typically manage to sell half to threequarters of the tickets. When they take on the All Blacks, they sell out.
Nowhere was that been better illustrated than Italy. The Azzuri play their Six Nations tests at Stadio Flaminio, which has capacity of 30,000. But that’s not big enough when they host the All Blacks.
So in 2009, they shifted their test to Milan and sold out the 80,000 seat San Siro Stadium. In 2012 and 2016 they stayed in Rome but took the All Blacks to the Olympic Stadium where 82,000 crammed in both times.
That’s the sort of pulling power the All Blacks have. The world wants to watch them play, which is why every year they receive multiple offers to play tests in neutral venues. They have been courted by sports promoters in Denver, Tokyo, Hong
They have a very strong emphasis on culture and identity. The shirt means a huge amount to them. The identity of playing for New Zealand is a big driver. In world sport I would ask whether there is a better team – I am not sure there is.’ STUART LANCASTER
Kong, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and many other venues.
When they agreed to play the USA in November 2014, tickets were gone in hours. The iconic Soldier Field was full on match day – not a spare seat to be had for love nor money.
When the Wallabies came the following year, the story was much different.
Soldier Field barely reached half capacity. The Wallabies just don’t carry the same appeal and their brand value is nowhere near as high. How could it be? They can’t match the All Blacks for excellence, sustained or otherwise.
Only the All Blacks can sell out big stadia on foreign soil. Only the All Blacks ignite the imagination of the non-rugby following and make them want to part with their cash.
Only the All Blacks can attract huge, multinational sponsors and inspire media in far-off lands to write about them. And only the All Blacks have genuine ability to command the same sort of market value as the biggest non-rugby sporting brands.
Ahead of last year’s World Cup, research estimated that the All Blacks brand would soon be worth $500 million.
“The potential growth on the world stage is significant in the sense that it’s only in the past 25 years that the All Blacks have evolved from being well known representatives into a truly global team,” said Brian Richards, the founding partner of brand strategy firm Richards Partners.
“I do believe that the potential for the All Black brand to grow is significant and it could double in brand value over the next 10 years if we manage it well.”