‘Be grateful and pick up after yourself’
Keven Mealamu pondered the question for a moment as he sat in the plush dining hall of the The Lensbury resort in Teddington.
Everyone talks about the All Blacks having this special ‘‘culture’’, but what did that really mean?
A few minutes earlier Mealamu had been posing for photos in a setting straight out of the 1970s English comedy To The Manor Born.
‘‘Do I need a cigar,’’ he laughed before someone nearby suggested he should fetch a smoking jacket and lean on the fireplace.
At 36 years old, Mealamu is acutely aware of his surroundings and after reflecting on the idea of team culture, says self-awareness is at the core of the current team’s ideology.
‘‘Sometimes being an All Black there are times when we are staying in places like this and you can take things for granted,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s just taking a second, taking a little bit of time to think about being grateful. It’s little things like picking up after yourself. Those are the things you can forget especially when you go from hotel to hotel. You can pick up little bad habits.’’
Mealamu made his test debut as a 22-year-old in 2002 in a side captained by Taine Randell.
The ‘‘culture’’ in the side back then was driven by the senior players in the back seat of the team bus. Fall in line or be punished.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry spoke recently about how senior players Carlos Spencer and Justin Marshall doled out punishments after a test loss to South Africa in 2004 during a mock court session that ended with most of the squad blind drunk.
Shortly after that night then manager Brian Lochore coined the phrase ‘‘better people make better All Blacks’’ and Mealamu has become the epitome of that ideal.
He stops short of saying the old All Blacks culture he came into was wrong, but is adamant it wouldn’t work in the current era.
‘‘When I first came into the side it was more around the back seat that used to run everything. As I’ve been around longer I’ve realised leaders are not just a couple of guys in the back of the bus.’’
It’s not hard to imagine young players resenting the senior players, but a decade later the standards are driven by the fact young players don’t want to let them down.
‘‘If you are late you are letting everyone else down and that responsibility is far greater than getting a fine or a punishment. When your team-mates say, ‘c’mon man, we needed you there at that meeting’ that’s hard. When there is a fine you can just say ‘OK’,’’
Mealamu tosses his wallet onto the table to make his point.
‘‘A fine has no personal meaning. The guys who get fined in some other sports get fined all the time, so it means they’re probably not learning.’’
The All Blacks standards are not complicated. Be on time. Work hard. Be grateful. And always put the team first.
‘‘It really is that simple,’’ Mealamu said. ‘‘But you have to actually live those things. You can’t say things then turn around and do something different. For us as leaders that keeps us in check, making sure we are living what we are preaching.’’
Which is part of the reason he would have been an easy World Cup selection for coach Steve Hansen.
It sounds silly, but some players in the All Blacks squad contribute as much, if not more, off the field than on it. At his fourth World Cup, that may be true of Mealamu over the next six weeks.
His on-field role has changed over his 14 seasons as an All Black. Game time has dropped, but not the satisfaction he gets when the team does well.
But he acknowledged it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The daily discipline of being in the All Blacks leadership group is a big commitment, not something to be enthused about one day, but not the next.
‘‘You definitely see with the guys who have been around a little longer they just fit in… but everyone’s in different situations, different stages of their life. Maybe for some guys who have moved on, this wasn’t the environment for them.’’
It has been for Mealamu and he’s loved every moment. You get the feeling he’d happily go on forever if his body would play ball.
Only he won’t. Next year one of the toughest men to play test rugby will walk away from the team he’s grown to love. He’ll try to fill the void with family, a new role with New Zealand Rugby, and some social basketball.
The father of three isn’t sure how that will play out, but whatever happens he’ll have no regrets.
‘‘I know I’ll miss going onto the field with my teammates competing, having fun, but I know competition and having fun can be put into other parts of life.’’