INNOVATION GAME
THE ALL BLACKS HAVE DEVELOPED A HEALTHY APPROACH TO INNOVATION WHICH HAS BEEN HELPFUL IN KEEPING THEM AHEAD OF THEIR OPPONENTS.
Thinking outside the square has become a hallmark of both New Zealand and All Blacks rugby.
TThe NZRU has a think tank looking at ways to keep players, but the issue is much deeper than that. I think we need to ask what do we want the All Blacks to be? Longer term, do we want them to be an iconic team?’ WAYNE SMITH
he theory in New Zealand is that if the All Blacks stand still, they will actually be going backwards. Backwards because other countries won’t be standing still. It has been a healthy attitude for New Zealand’s rugby fraternity – one that has kept them hungry to keep bettering the way they do things.
That hunger has been vital. It has meant that coaches, players and administrators have been open minded to new ideas. But more importantly, they have been proactive in generating new ideas about how they could be doing things. An innovative mind-set has been a critical part of the All Blacks’ success.
The national team, in conjunction with the wider New Zealand rugby fraternity, have been willing to get ahead of problems.
They continually analyse the game to see what trends are developing on the field, in the transfer market or in relation to high performance cultures, and come up with innovative plans to enable the All Blacks to maximise any slight advantage they may find. It is all about trying to find novel ways to be ahead of their opponents in how they prepare and play.
The first real indication of how far the All Blacks were willing to push the boundaries came in 2004 when they ripped up the existing ethos about how a rugby team should be managed. The established order of coaches dictating terms to players felt outdated to the All Blacks coaches of that time.
So rather than persevere with a system they felt was broken, they revolutionised and switched to a collaborative model of leadership where the players were empowered with much of the decision-making.
That player-centric model has become the norm worldwide, but most international sides are playing catch up, still getting used to it. The All Blacks have been player-led for more than a decade decade, which has given them continuity of culture as personnel changes.
The importance of that was seen when Richie McCaw retired as captain in 2015 and Kieran Read seamlessly took over. A handful of other legends retired with McCaw, but again, it didn’t derail the team because there was a strong bank of younger leaders who had already been groomed to take over.
But the boundaries have been pushed much further in the last decade. In 2006 the All Blacks coaches hatched a plan to take 22 leading players out of the first seven weeks of the 2007 Super Rugby competition. It was controversial – broadcasters weren’t consulted and didn’t like it. Super Rugby coaches didn’t like it but they understood it.
The theory was sound – the top All Blacks needed a longer preseason to prepare for the World Cup.
If they could train for longer they could come back to play as bigger, faster, better athletes. They would also, theoretically, still be fresh in September when the World Cup kicked off.
It was a radical idea but the execution of the project – particularly the way players were returned to action – was a little shambolic. That led to a number of people branding it a mistake, but no one could doubt that it illustrated powerfully how willing the All Blacks were to think outside the box.
More of that experimental thinking surfaced in early 2008 when both leading first-fives, Daniel Carter and Nick Evans, indicated
they would be heading offshore at the end of the season. Rather than see two good players leave before they were in their prime, the New Zealand Rugby Union hit upon the idea of a sabbatical clause.
That essentially meant they were willing to allow some players to play offshore on a six-month contract as part of a longer term deal to stay in New Zealand. Carter was the first to take that opportunity, signing a three-year extension with the NZRU in 2008 that afforded him the right to play for six months in Perpignan in 2009.
Speaking about the concept, assistant coach at that time Wayne Smith said: “The NZRU has a think tank looking at ways to keep players but the issue is much deeper than that. I think we need to ask what do we want the All Blacks to be? Longer term, do we want them to be an iconic team?
“I don’t want to dramatise things but I’m not sure this country understands how big this issue is and how complex it is. The players are being offered huge amounts of money to go overseas where they will be able to spend more time with their families and gain that overseas experience which is very different. We have to find strategies to help them to do what they love. We are continuously working on solutions and a lot of the feedback we have had has been really positive.”
Again, after Carter, the sabbatical concept became relatively commonplace – although it was the non-playing kind that became more popular. Long-serving players came to see an extended break as an invaluable tool in preserving the longevity of their careers, and enabled many to eke out another couple of years they may otherwise not have.
McCaw took six months off in 2013 and it allowed him to finish the final two-anda-half years of his career in top form. Conrad Smith was another who used that clause to regenerate himself and several other players such as Kieran Read and Sam Whitelock were able to have mini sabbaticals – returning to Super Rugby a few weeks later than their teammates – to good effect.
The next smart idea the All Blacks hit upon was the apprenticeship scheme. In 2013, head coach Steve Hansen negotiated a deal where he was able to take a young, emerging player with the full squad that was touring Japan and Europe that year.
The player in question would not be available for selection, but would instead be there to train with the team and see behind the scenes of the All Blacks.
It was all about giving someone a taste of what was to come – an early introduction to test football without requiring them to be quite ready.
The first player chosen for the scheme was Ardie Savea. “Ardie’s a player who we think is destined to be an All Black at some stage, if he continues to improve and grow his game,” Hansen said.
“We felt giving him this opportunity would advance that. But he’s primarily coming because we want to introduce him to the way of the All Black life.”
Savea learned more than he ever imagined on that tour. He returned to New Zealand with a plan to find the extra weight he needed to be a test-class openside flanker and he worked on all the areas of his game the All Blacks said he needed to. His hard work paid off when he made the All Blacks squad as a 22-year-old in 2016.
And not only did he make it, he hit the ground running. He was an instant test sensation. He settled quickly into All Blacks life, felt a level of comfort being there that few young players do and the national team benefited enormously from their innovative apprenticeship scheme.