Gender quota failure hits NZR in pocket

New Zealand Rugby is set to lose some of its government funding after not meeting a 40% board gender diversity quota.

NZ Rugby installed two more women onto the board in April, including former Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy and Rowena Davenport, lifting the total representation of women to 33%, below the

Arequired government quota. They join Dr Farah Palmer, who is the board’s deputy chair and chair of the NZ Māori Rugby board.

NZ Rugby is the only organisation of 66 qualifying sports bodies not to reach the government mandated 40% female quota on boards, introduced within the 2018 Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation. The deadline to meet the quota was December 31, 2021.

Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said the organisation ‘‘has always indicated that there will winger called Jonah scoring four tries in his team’s big victory. Sound familiar?

Some 27 years after Jonah Lomu trampled all over England in that All Blacks’ World Cup semifinal win in Cape Town, one Jonah Lowe matched his namesake’s quadruple feats, in the Chiefs’ Super Rugby Pacific victory over the Waratahs in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

had suspicions Lowe, who turns 26 on Monday, could well have inherited his first name from the late, great Lomu, who instantly rose to mega stardom at that 1995 tournament. And on inquiry this week the Hastings-born product did not disappoint.

‘‘Yeah, Jonah Lomu was in his prime in 1995-96, I was born in 96 ... so that’s where my name came from,’’ Lowe said.

‘‘I’ve got four older brothers. Jonah was the man back then. They loved him, obviously, so they were trying to get my parents to call me that.

‘‘My dad was probably hassling mymum just as much, he’s a big rugby fan.’’

Lowe quickly started his own rugby journey, aged four, up against kids a year older than him. It was 2000 – the year Lomu scored that memorable match-winner in the Bledisloe Cup epic in Sydney.

Imagine the shouts of ‘‘Go Jonah’’ on a kids’ rugby sideline.

So just when did Lowe grasp that he was named after this new superstar of the sport? ‘‘Kind of always,’’ he said.

‘‘You heard about him all the time, so prettymuch for as long as I remember, I knew who he was.

‘‘I can’t really remember actually seeing him play. But you see a lot of videos growing up on YouTube and stuff.’’

It wasn’t on the wing where Lowe initially made his name, though. He shone as a centre, and in moving to Auckland’s King’s College for his last two years of secondary school, he, remarkably, linked in the midfield with another boy called Jonah. ‘‘He was a real good player as well.’’ Then, it was just a few months after Lomu’s death in 2015 that Lowe was making his NPC debut for his native Hawke’s Bay.

And was there a stack of expectation carrying such an iconic rugby name, particularly after making themove to the wing with the Magpies being stacked in the midfield department?

‘‘No, not really, eh,’’ Lowe said. ‘‘More just being my brothers’ younger be implications for non-compliance’’ and confirmed there will be a ‘‘loss of some funding’’ for NZ Rugby.

A decision on how much government funding NZ Rugby could lose is yet to be made by the Sport NZ board.

NZ Rugby received more than $9 million in funding from High Performance Sport New Zealand and Sport NZ in 2021, according to its recent financial statements.

Castle said Sport NZ and NZ Rugby had been in conversation about not reaching the quota target.

‘‘While they are working towards brother. Everyone knew who Karl [the former Hawke’s Bay, Hurricanes, Junior All Blacks and Māori All Blacks flanker] was when I was coming up.

‘‘So that was probably more pressure than being called Jonah.’’

Lowe’s first shot at Super Rugby came in 2017 with the Hurricanes – who Lomu had ended up playing the majority of his Super compliance, they have advised the likely earliest date will be at theAGM in April 2023,’’ she said.

Castle acknowledged NZ Rugby had made ‘‘positive strides’’ with the recent appointments.

A statement provided by NZ Rugby said it had not been given ‘‘a steer’’ from Sport NZ on what repercussions would look like.

NZ Rugby did acknowledge there is a ‘‘short-term financial risk’’ involved in not reaching the target, but said it is committed to long-term change in the governance space.

Rugby for – but in four years in the capital he notched all of just four games.

‘‘My first two years I was just learning, I was pretty young, only 19-20,’’ he said.

‘‘Then my last two years I fractured my shoulder three times. And then I would come back and get into good shape and I would just do it again.

‘‘But they had a lot of good wingers there

‘‘We have acknowledged that we have not met the Sport NZ set board diversity quota and know we can and must do better,’’ a spokesperson said.

‘‘There is no denying that having diversity amongst board members is an asset to any entity, and NZ Rugby and our Provincial Unions are committed to ensuring we reach our targets of 50% diversity in all rugby boards, not just NZ Rugby, by 2024.

‘‘At a governance level, we acknowledge that this is a journey and there’s more work to be done.’’

The statement said a plan is in as well, so it was hard to crack there.’’

Seeing a better opportunity at the Chiefs, Lowe shifted north and his career has gone to the next level, in an environment he has thrived in.

‘‘I’ve been loving it, eh. It’s a real good culture here, everyone gets along, it’s like a big family.

‘‘I’ve only been here for two years but it place for the board, which includes the addition of an emerging board director, and details will be communicated after the next meeting.

This is the ‘‘Year of Women and Girls’’ in rugby, as the country is set to host the World Cup in October and November. Women’s teams are also being sent to the Commonwealth Games and World Cup Sevens. The inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki for women launched in March.

Women in Rugby Aotearoa (Wira) spokesperson Alice Soper said NZ Rugby’s loss of funding was a feels like I’ve been here for ages, all the boys and coaches are friendly.’’

Sporting a 1.84m, 92kg frame that was anything but similar to the Jonah that went before (Lomu being a massive 1.96m and 120kg), Lowe proved an under-rated, dependable-rather-than-flashy performer last year, notching eight appearances and two tries, which earned him another one‘‘disappointing reality’’ of not meeting the diversity quota target.

‘‘Our hope is that the intention and focus that was laid out in the [Black Ferns] review ... that NZ Rugby continues to make good on its commitment to investment into the women’s game, despite having to rejiggle its finances,’’ Soper said.

‘‘There are a lot of things that need to change, and a lot of recommendations that need to be put into action that came out of that review. Now is not the time to be hitting the brakes on what is a momentous time.’’