Inside rugby’s talent machine
As Steve Hansen continues to ‘future-proof’ his All Blacks, MARC HINTON delves into the system that keeps spitting out highend talent.
Chris Boyd is doing more than his bit to make Steve Hansen look like a coaching savant. But the Hurricanes mentor is the first to acknowledge he is just a cog in a New Zealand rugby system that continues to stand above anything else on the planet.
The All Blacks have a catch-all phrase they use around their continued ability to promote young talent. They call it ‘‘futureproofing’’. It perfectly sums up a development programme that ensures they’re the No1 rugby team not only today, but also tomorrow, and the day after.
There was a time when the All Blacks didn’t deal with the loss of key players or transition between eras very well at all. Back in 1998 they were caught out horribly when iconic All Blacks Sean Fitzpatrick, Zinzan Brooke and Frank Bunce retired, and John Hart’s men lost five straight tests as they struggled to figure out their new identity.
There were similar hiccups in 2009 when Dan Carter and Ali Williams were absent and the All Blacks dropped three tests, including two at home, in a forgettable season.
Over the back half of the Graham Henry era, and now under Hansen, the All Blacks have become measurably better at replacing key men by building unprecedented depth and continuing to refresh with young talent on an annual basis. Now the future no longer sneaks up on them like a Sonny Bill Williams blindside tackle.
So after the 2015 World Cup when Richie McCaw, Carter, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Tony Woodcock and Keven Mealamu departed, there was not even a hitch in the stride. In came Beauden Barrett, Sam Cane, Ryan Crotty, Anton Lienert-Brown, Joe Moody and Dane Coles, and the show rolled on.
Now, over the back end of 2016 and start of 2017, Hansen has continued to make those evolutionary strides, bringing in Rieko Ioane, Scott and Jordie Barrett, Vaea Fifita and Ngani Laumape to further ‘‘future-proof’’ his squad.
Boyd has been primarily responsible for three of that quintet, with Laumape, Fifita and Jordie Barrett playing their way in out of his impressive Hurricanes squad. But he’s reluctant to take too much credit for being one cog in a very big rugby talent machine that spits out talent with mind-boggling consistency.
‘‘The All Blacks do it really well, but the credit goes a long way down,’’ Boyd told the Star-Times. ‘‘Now we’re getting really good development of the kids at schools, and the structure of the academies is much more professional, so guys come out of school now and are getting physical development, skill development, and understanding around nutrition, hydration, sleep, and education.
‘‘There is a whole system that starts nationally from school level, and inside a region it often starts a long way down. It’s just a massive, big pipeline that all heads towards the All Blacks. Some guys get on that elevator early, some guys get on that elevator and keep going and very few get on really late.’’
But even the well-oiled machine gets updated. Boyd points to the New Zealand under-20 team of 2011, of which he was an assistant coach, and which might have produced the single greatest wave of young talent in Kiwi rugby history.
That squad included All Blacks Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane, Codie Taylor, TJ Perenara, Waisake Naholo and Lima Sopoaga, as well as Steven Luatua, Charles Piutau, Dom Bird, Francis Saili, Ben Tameifuna, Brad Shields, Luke Whitelock, Brad Weber and Gareth Anscombe. Little wonder they collected a fourth straight world title.
‘‘The only Super Rugbycontracted player in that group at the time was Lima. Now, probably half the [2017] team are already contracted, or have an arrangement with a Super Rugby team,’’ adds Boyd. ‘‘Six years ago you had to prove yourself in the then ITM Cup, and on the back of that you got picked for a franchise, and generally your own region.
‘‘Now it’s open slather and they can be plucked from anywhere and we’re all contracting people on potential, not on performance.’’
That progress now extends to top coaches like Boyd identifying talent as early as 13 or 14. He points to current under-20s hooker Asafo Aumua as someone they’ve been monitoring since he was 14, and already have under contract. Ardie Savea and Ma’a Nonu were others previously earmarked at such a young age.
This doesn’t happen by chance. Boyd describes a vast system of volunteer talent identifiers scattered around the New Zealand game who ‘‘do it for a sweatshirt and the love of the game’’, feeding information to the under-20 national coaching staff, and beyond.
‘‘Steve [Hansen] sits there at the pointy end of the apex and has a whole bunch of disciples that do other things for him in other places. They (the All Blacks) don’t have a lot of interaction with young guys directly. Generally the first time they have contact is when they get picked.’’
But they all know the names. Boyd has his Hurricanes roster plotted out to 2022 right now. He knows what holes he has to fill, and has projected arrivals and departures. It’s standard procedure across all New Zealand’s leading sides.
‘‘We all spend a lot of time future-proofing our rosters,’’ says Boyd. ‘‘We’ve just taken on a more experienced prop who will do me a job for two years, because we’ve got a young prop who’s going be a great footballer, but he’s not going to be ready for two years.’’
If Boyd has one concern about this visionary approach, it’s this: ‘‘We’re all busily contracting 19-year-olds because we think they’re going to be good players, but that means there’s a 24-yearold journeymen who’s a bloody good provincial player not getting contracted . . . they just go overseas now.’’
But you can’t have everything. Boyd admits to a deep satisfaction at seeing a Laumape, Fifita or Barrett achieve their dream under your watch. ‘‘But you would be naive to take anything more than a snippet of credit. These guys develop their physical and mental skill-set from the time they’re little.’’