Blues have become a well connected outfit
New Zealand rugby has been overwhelmingly coached, captained and ruled by white men. And so the biggest challenge for Ian Foster, in his new role as All Blacks coach, is to empower the astonishing black talent rampaging through Super Rugby.
The winning Chiefs team of 2012 and 2013 under Dave Rennie and Wayne Smith unleashed the potential. The Crusaders have touched on it. Now the Blues are doing something very special. All these teams thrive through connection. All these teams thrive through letting players be who they are and not trying to mould them into something different.
That is something which was falling apart at the All Blacks over the last five years.
Leon MacDonald, the coach of the Blues, said that ‘‘connection is a word that we use a lot’’. Aaron Cruden saw it in the opposition and said, ‘‘They’re connected, they understand what they’re trying to do.’’ And that connection is about letting all the voices be heard and understanding that shy people, sometimes inarticulate people, may have just as much to contribute as the smart talkers.
MacDonald said: ‘‘You can turn up and be yourself and not pretend to be someone you’re not
. . . Quirky is cool.’’
It’s a simple example, but that means short back and sides are not mandatory. If Patrick Tuipulotu or Akira Ioane or Hoskins Sotutu or Sam Knock or Rieko Ioane want bleached or pink hair, then let them be.
Look at the difference the new culture is making to the Blues. Rieko Ioane is reborn. The pace, power, belief and sheer love of playing footy are all surging through his game. The question for Foster is not now whether to pick him, but where to play him.
The best second row forward in New Zealand right now, and by some distance, is Tuipulotu. Every level of his game has gone up. MacDonald acknowledged they have worked on his scrummaging. His lineout work has taken. And all that success in the tight frees up Tuipulotu to carry and defend like only he can.
MacDonald said: ‘‘His defensive work’s been enormous this year. He’s worked hard at his scrummaging. All the little bits that we do not see have grown.’’
Beauden Barrett said: ‘‘[Tuipulotu’s] leading by example. He’s really putting it on the boys to deliver.’’
I had doubt about the wisdom of giving Tuipulotu the captaincy.
Manipulating referees is an art form that I doubted his skill at compared to, say, a TJ Perenara. But you can see he has become a figurehead for the team. In 2016 he was made a chief in Samoa. That status is evident in Tuipulotu’s leadership of the Blues.
There is no better example than the emergence of Sotutu, a young man who has a talent that
has been too often squandered by New Zealand leadership down the years. And it nearly happened again.
Sotutu has said that his ‘‘relaxed’’ attitude at training last year was not giving the coaches much to go on. He said: ‘‘I get the same feedback throughout all the teams, that I look like I don’t care. It’s just my face, I guess.’’
When Sotutu was with the New Zealand under 20 team he was given very little game time. He said: ‘‘I just felt they didn’t really like me.’’
It’s the cliche of ‘‘he doesn’t care’’. It’s the cliche of ‘‘just another lazy Islander’. But it’s that stereotyping which is lazy. Sotutu cares deeply. But you have to connect.
The Blues have made the connection. Sotutu says of Akira Ioane: ‘‘Aki’s sort of the big brother in the team. He’s happy for me and happy that I’m getting a shot. He’s always been helping me out through my development with the Blues . . . The Blues are my team, the team I care about – and I feel like I was only going to play the best rugby for a team that I care about.’’
That tells you a huge amount about the selfless humanity of Akira Ioane, who is still only 25. That tells you a huge amount about the current culture of the Blues. This is a team that cares. This is a team that is running over people in those final 20 minutes when you find out a lot about ticker and fitness.
How about that final try which finished off the Chiefs. Tuipulotu started it with a lineout win. Then Akira Ioane ran at the Chiefs’ midfield, aided by a big clear out from Sotutu. Tuipulotu made two giant surges into the Chiefs 22. And then Sotutu broke the defence with that long spin, cut-out pass off his left hand.
And don’t think that was a fluke. Sotutu had thrown a couple of beautiful passes off his left hand earlier in the match. His lineout performance was dominant. And then there was the huge kick out of his 22.
The range of skills has had people rightly thinking about Zinzan Brooke. But maybe they should also be thinking about Toutai Kefu, perhaps Australia’s last great No 8 who said not so long ago: ‘‘In terms of a ballplaying No 8, I just don’t see many around these days.’’ I think he just found him, only not in Australia.
It is also worth remembering that Kefu supported Israel Folau, even though he may not have agreed with him. Folau, however much you may not like it, was a target of white colonialism, however right-on, liberally permissive that white colonialism may have looked. I suspect this Blues team may have found a way to connect with Folau that Raelene Castle, Michael Cheika and Michael Hooper failed to find.
As MacDonald said, these Blues are turning up, being themselves, and not pretending to be someone else. Quirky is cool. They are connected.
And maybe good men make good All Blacks, but what is the definition of ‘‘a good man’’?
The task for Ian Foster, and his overwhelmingly white leadership group, will be to grow an All Blacks team that is truly connected. If Foster succeeds, no one could stop New Zealand.
‘‘If Patrick Tuipulotu or Akira Ioane or Hoskins Sotutu or Sam Knock or Rieko Ioane want bleached or pink hair, then let them be.’’