Let’s kiss and make up, says Mehrtens

Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens has challenged New Zealand Rugby to dial back the aggressive rhetoric and mend a damaged relationship with Australia in the best interests of the sport on both sides of the Tasman.

And the one-time record-breaking first five-eighth also urged those running the game in New Zealand to take on board the lessons from their failed campaign to host the upcoming Rugby Championship, drawing parallels with the 2003 World Cup hosting debacle when ‘‘maybe we shot ourselves in the foot a bit’’.

Mehrtens, in an interview with Stuff from his home in Sydney, offered an interesting perspective on the trans-Tasman rugby relationship which has been somewhat strained of late.

He has a good feel for what is transpiring in Australia after spending the last seven years building a career in the financial world there.

NZ Rugby did not exactly endear itself to its Australian counterpart when it took a rather patronising approach to finding a way forward in Super Rugby in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which came across as an ‘‘our way or the highway’’ type approach.

Since then Australia outbid New Zealand for the upcoming Rugby Championship, which then prompted some rather terse negotiations around the two Bledisloe Cup fixtures to be played in this country.

‘‘There needs to be more equality in the relationship,’’ Mehrtens told Stuff. ‘‘From the New Zealand side, we need Australian rugby to be strong as well. We need rugby in this part of world to be strong in general.

‘‘It seems like there has been a little too much of a combative approach in recent years. Some of it maybe stems back to that 2003 World Cup decision and a bit of ill-feeling about that. It was 17 years ago, personnel has changed markedly across both organisations, and if there is still any lingering animosity we’ve got to dump it.’’

Mehrtens cautioned Kiwi officials against leaning too heavily on the strength of the All Blacks brand at the expense of other important factors in play.

‘‘That’s not the be-all and end-all. We’re not a big economy, and to leverage off our brand we’re essentially relying on the goodwill of others, and making a bigger effort to foster that goodwill, and not look like we’re throwing our non-existent weight around.

‘‘We’ve actually got to play well with the other kids and we need to make a bit more effort to do that. By the sound of it we came in a little bit heavy on the Rugby Championship.’’

Mehrtens felt the message sent to Australian rugby around Super Rugby, and their place on the new landscape, had not helped.

‘‘It sounded critical. We know Australian rugby has had some problems . . . but I don’t think sitting smugly on the other side of the Tasman and criticising wantonly is the way to go about it.

‘‘We need to be trying our best to work alongside, rather than work against Australia.’’

Mehrtens said there had to be a lesson in New Zealand losing the Rugby Championship to Australia, which had essentially been asked to come up with a contingency plan that in the end became the more compelling option for Sanzaar.

‘‘It seems as discussions went on New Zealand were under the assumption they had the Rugby Championship and the demands got a little too much for Sanzaar,’’ he added.

‘‘From my understanding it certainly wasn’t all down to just government and quarantine things . . . there were also certain demands around staging and hosting of the tournament including some form of management fees.’’

But Mehrtens sees some hope that the relationship can be salvaged and that new NZR chief executive Mark Robinson is the man to lead the way.

‘‘Mark is a very smart guy and I’m sure he will look to build good relationships with people.’’