Hail to the Chiefs: people, not
What do you stand for? In a world where the major European football clubs are motivated by an exclusionary capitalist greed and where our Rugby Union is thinking of selling out to a private equity firm, it is surely a question worth asking. What do you stand for?
For me, it is a question that the Chiefs have gone a long way to answering in the past few weeks. Not so long ago theywere in a dark place. They had lost 11 matches in a row. They were on the sort of run that would get themthrown out froma plutocrat’s idea of a super league.
Then something curious happened. They found themselves. The Chiefs discovered that sport, like the novel, like most good things in life, is about people.
Listening to some of the players talk after they had just tipped over the Crusaders was a revelation. Anton Lienert-brown talked about ‘‘sticking tight’’ and ‘‘not cracking’’.
He said: ‘‘Whenwe were in that hole, we probably went away from what the Chiefs are good at. So Clayton’s [coach Clayton Mcmillan] given amongst this group about Chiefs’ footy, play what’s in front. It’s good to put some mana back in this jersey.’’
Lachlan Boshier said: ‘‘He’s [Clayton Mcmillan] been really good for us. He’s got a lot of mana already. Last year’s games like that, we probably wouldn’t have won those. This year we’re digging deep. It shows the characters of our fellas.’’
It also shows an enormous elephant in the room. It cannot be seen as a coincidence that the Chiefs’ revival has gone on in the absence of Warren Gatland. And that gives NZR amassive problem. What are they going to do now, because Gatland is due to return next year as the head coach of the Chiefs.
That is not to decry the quality of Gatland’s overall record as a coach. But it is almost impossible to have a foot in both hemispheres and expect to be taken at face value in New Zealand. The moment Gatland put a third Lions tour ahead of footy in his home heartland, he should have been left on the outer.
Because as the Chiefs have shown yet again, the tribe matters. It is buried deep in our survival DNA. But I can’t help asking – who are Gatland’s tribe? Wales? Wasps? The Lions? Gatland has wandered the world for so long that I amnot sure he even has one any more.
When Graham Henry returned from Europe it probably took him five years before he found his way amongst his own people again. The early yearswere defined by a savagely early World Cup exit, some discontented All Blacks and a few frankly wacky ideas. For a whilehenry was disconnected.
As the Chiefs have shown yet again, the tribe matters. It is buried deep in our survival DNA.
New Zealand Rugby loves to chant the mantra that good men make good All Blacks, but I think there ismore to it than that. Good men make good coaches make good teams. We have seen that with Scott Robertson and Wayne Smith and Dave Rennie.
The latter two put the mana back into the Chiefs and instilled it so deep that Mcmillan was able to unearth it this season.
Mcmillan said in December: ‘‘I am the interim coach and I’ve got my own ideas about how things will operate. I could see there was lots of good stuff going on, so it’s not about reinventing the wheel.
‘‘It’s about establishing that identity, getting buy-in to whatwe want to achieve, and being at the forefront of driving standards and behaviours that are going to help us achieve that identity. The Chiefs are my region – I’ve grown up here supporting the Chiefs and had a number of my players play for the club so it’s fantastic to now be a really integral part of the organisation.’’
Now we’re not at the stage yet wherewe are going to confuse Clayton Mcmillan with Harold Mcmillan. It’s far too early to say of the Chiefs: ‘‘You’ve never had it so good.’’ Those were the Rennie/ Smith years and they will take some emulating. But it is about identity. And the fact that Mcmillan had to re-establish it, would suggest that Gatland, upright in the back of the coaches’ box, with folded arms, had lost it.
So surely this is the end of Gatland’s time. But why wouldnzr want Gatland back, a man who is currently having to squabble with the avaricious, selfish Premiership clubs about money and release dates to the Lions. Indeed Mark Robinson should be giving Scott Robertson awritten guarantee of that role post 2023 World Cup or sooner, depending on results. Otherwise Robertson